


Peter Nureyev and the Stolen Heart

by MaryGin



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Canon-Typical Violence, Episode: s03e17-18 Juno Steel and the Heart of it All, Kidnapping, Multi, Nureyev's debts, POV Alternating, POV First Person, Peter Nureyev Needs a Hug, Peter Nureyev's Backstory, Plot Twists, References to Illness, Rescue Missions, Rita appreciation hours, canon divergence - mid Heart of it all, plans may not go as planned, spoilers up to Heart of it All
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27513052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryGin/pseuds/MaryGin
Summary: After the Cure Mother heist goes as well as it could've gone, the man that's been following Peter Nureyev for years is finally coming to collect.With the lives of the love of his life, his captain, and possibly his entire family on the line, and a deadline quickly approaching, his only choice may be doing something he has never allowed himself to try before: ask for help.
Relationships: Buddy Aurinko/Vespa Ilkay, Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Comments: 44
Kudos: 84





	1. In the dead of the night

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, bare with me because I am very nervous here. This is the first fic I have posted online in close to a decade, and the first thing I have ever written for The Penumbra Podcast. BUT I really like how it's going and I really hope someone else will enjoy it too. 
> 
> A million thanks, hugs and kudos to everyone on TPP server for the elderly, as the entire plot for this came from a really long and angsty conversation about a month ago. The working title for this fic was "Juno Steel, held for Ransom", and that is all thanks to the server. A proper shout out to [GerryStAmour](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GerryStAmour) for having the idea of the crew gathering clues from Juno recording his own monologues, and letting me play with it!!
> 
> I had the bestest beta ever, [Jude](https://archiveofourown.org/users/revelationtour/pseuds/revelationtour), all mistakes that may be left are mine and not theirs. And last bt not least, this entrie fic would not have happened without the greatest cheerleader [@aro-hawke](http://aro-hawke.tumblr.com/) I LUV U AND YOUR YELLING AT ME GAVE ME LIFE!!!

It is strange that I wake up alone in bed and immediately feel that this is somehow wrong. That someone is missing. For years, for most of my life, it was the common state of affairs. It used to be that waking up  _ with  _ someone next to me was a cause for alarm. But all that has changed in the past year, all thanks to one lovely, yet impossibly stubborn detective, Juno Steel.

My name, for the moment, is Peter Ransom. In this room however, while Juno is in here with me, my name is a different one. An older name, one that I’m slowly growing fond of again, the more I hear it spoken in his voice. But Juno isn’t here now, and I….

Wait, where is Juno? 

As I slowly awaken from my slumber, the events of the past couple of days come rushing back in full to the front of my mind. The heist for the Curemother Prime after a year of preparations. My own unforgivable mistake, Jet’s injury as a direct result of my failure. How grateful I was that everyone else’s performance was impeccable. Our frantic escape from that incredibly secure vault we had successfully breached, just as security was rushing in to check on the alarms we had no choice but to trigger on our way out. The speed and stealth of the Ruby 7. And the relief of being back safe onboard the Carte Blanche, only to be turned to panic again at the state Captain Aurinko was in when we returned. 

Two days had passed, the spoils from our heist now safely hidden away somewhere else until the time came for the second part of our Captain’s plan. We would wait, until she could get out of her bed on the ship’s medical bay; or better said, until Vespa allowed her to. 

The thing is, I really expected Juno to be here when I woke up. He usually is. My beloved tends to sleep quite a lot more than me, especially these last few weeks. As the weight of my debts kept crushing me more and more, I have had quite a lot of restless nights. But maybe - as I finally bared my past to him last night, and we made plans together about how to bring it up with the rest of the crew this morning - maybe I have slept more soundly than I had before. 

I open my eyes as I turn to his bedside shelf, and onJuno’s comms I see the time. It’s early enough in the morning to still be considered night. That unease in my chest only grows as I look around some more, finding only Juno’s clothes from yesterday still strewn across the floor. Why am I sensing such dread, when the most plausible explanation is simply that he got up to use the bathroom, or get some water? Surely, he must be on his way back to bed and I’m simply reacting out of my own deeply seated fears. 

It is just as I try to calm myself with these musings, that I realize what had so abruptly woken me up in the first place. 

*beep*

My comms, which somehow ended up under the pillow I was sleeping on, are signaling me that I have a message waiting.

*beep*

I try and force my heart to stop pounding in my chest as I reach and grab the comms that keep steadily beeping away as if mocking my trepidation. I’ve only ever gotten messages on this apparatus from one person since I came aboard this ship. Always from a different unknown number, and always with instructions to delete the message after reading it.

*BEEP*

I look at the screen, and all I can see is a blur. It takes my panic addled brain more than a second to realize;  _ my glasses! _ I quickly reach for the shelf next to me and place the blasted things upon my face, and I finally can see the message notification. Unknown number. One message. One photograph. 

*BEEP*

I unlock the screen, and the image comes up first. It’s dark, but I can still make out what it shows: this room, this exact bed I’m sitting in right now. Me and Juno, fast asleep, limbs tangled in a messy embrace. I can see his mouth slightly open, his expression relaxed in a way that’s rare to see when he’s awake. His hand gently placed on my waist, one of his feet visible from under the covers. 

My sight goes blurry once again, and with a start I realize it isn’t because of my glasses this time. Quickly I wipe my eyes,  _ this isn’t the time for useless emoting! _ I read the accompanying message.

If my heart was pounding before, now it feels as though it has deserted me all together. I don’t breathe, and my gut feels like a block of ice, as I read the same message two, three, four times, trying to make it say something different. Anything else, at all. But the words don’t change. 

“-...  _ Do this alone, we don’t need more people involved _ ”

I don’t know how to save Juno alone; how to save Buddy. But I  _ cannot _ , I must  _ not _ do this on my own. If this last heist has proven anything, it is that my crew mates are more apt at their respective jobs than I am. 

And I cannot trust these man to do as he says either. Even if I thought doing as I am told would actually spare them, I don’t even know where the Curemother Prime is hidden!

I rush out of Juno’s room.  _ Out of our room _ , my traitorous mind supplies. I don’t know how I will explain everything to the others, how I can make them believe me, and I half expect to be killed by Vespa before I can get through everything I need to say. But if the last year has taught me anything, it is this:

I cannot do this properly on my own.

I can only hope the lesson hasn’t come too late. 

\-------------------------------------------------

“So what you are saying, Ransom, is someone,  _ somehow _ , kidnapped both Juno and Buddy from the ship without anyone else noticing?”

“Yes Mr.  Sikuliaq, that is what I am saying”

I take all of my fear and shame and I lock it away tight in a box. I need to get the crew to understand, and help me fix this, and in order to achieve that I need to be coherent.

“But Mistah Ransom,  _ how _ ?! I mean, sure, it’s happened before, but after that Dark Matters bot got us and then Mistah Jet fixed the ship we got some  _ very good _ security alarms, better than before, and-”

Vespa comes rushing to the kitchen we’re all standing in, a look of panic in her eyes I understand all too well. Before Rita can say another word, the doctor pushes me back into a wall. A sharp knife positioned under my jaw, and sharper eyes staring at me demanding an answer I couldn’t give.

“Where is Buddy,  _ thief _ ? She was in the med bay; she isn’t supposed to be moving around yet. She’s nowhere to be seen! Where. Is. She?”

“I do not know, Vespa. These people, I’m not sure where they operate from. I’m not even sure of their name! And I can’t -”

“You expect me to believe that?” she wails. I feel the tip of the knife press closer, and a drop of what I very much doubt is sweat drips down my neck.

“I don’t expect you to do anything Vespa, but I  _ have _ to get them back, and I’ll need your help to do so. Now if you would please give me a minute to explain -”

Whatever I was going to say next gets lost as she raises her other arm and chokes the breath out of me. I see murder in her eyes, and it’d be so easy to just let her, to just let go… but no, I can’t. Not while my love and my captain are still in peril because of my own foolishness. I lift my hands to try and push her arm away, to get a single word out, but before I am able to, Rita interrupts.

“Ah... Miss Vespa, ma’am, there’s something in his comms I think you’ll wanna see. See, I was checking his calls and messages, because he said he’d gotten a text that woke him up just now, and also because if he was up to something fishy there’s bound to be something about it here, and I really don’t want to think he’s being fishy but in that last job he definitely had a bit of a fishy smell y’know? And now he says Mistah Steel is missing, so I just thought I’d check -”

“Rita, I think you better just show us what you mean before Ransom faints from lack of oxygen. Time may be of the essence here”, Jet comments, interrupting Rita’s chatter.

“Right, right Mistah Jet, just look right here” - Rita shows both Jet and Vespa the text message I had received, although Vespa still refuses to relax her grip on me. - “And there’s also this picture! And I mean, it’s a very sweet picture and they both look pretty cute, but if Mistah Ransom was behind  _ all of this _ , then who took it?”

Slowly, Vespa releases the pressure on my windpipe and I can breathe again. She does not, however, bring down her knife. With a hoarse voice she tells me - “Alright  _ thief _ , you have five minutes to make all of this make sense. After that, the cut in your neck might make it harder for you to keep lying. Now start talking.”

I take a deep breath and attempt to gather my thoughts. It is difficult to know where to start, when I know anything I say will most likely not be believed. I guess when all else fails, one must go back to the beginning. One more deep breath, and I begin.

“My real name, if I even have such a thing, is Peter Nureyev. I’m originally from Brahma, in the Outer Rims. Rita can confirm this is true, as she actually figured it out before, all on her own. When I was young, I…” -  _ how do I even say this? What is it I actually did back then? _ \- “I got myself into a really bad situation. At the same time I… no longer had the only family I had ever known.”

“I needed to do one last job, to destroy something abominable, to fix my mistake, and then I needed to disappear. In order to achieve this I needed funds that I did not have. So, the young naive fool that I was, I made a second mistake to make up for the first. See, there was a family back in New Kinshasa, Brahma’s capital city, with seemingly endless funds and no qualms about who they lent it to. For an absurd amount of interest, and rather extreme ways of enforcing their collaterals, of course.”

“But I had no loved ones left, and no doubts regarding my abilities to disappear. No wish to remain in Brahma either. So I took the money, a substantial amount, I got the job done, and then I left.” 

By now Vespa has loosened her grip on me, slightly, and her eyes look like she’s trying to make sense of something, or maybe just remember something. But when I finish recounting my leaving Brahma she tightens her hold once again - “So you do know who it is that’s got them -” 

“Vespa,  _ please _ , I beg you allow me to finish. I only have two minutes left from the five you allotted me” - I refrain from mentioning the dread I feel at having to recount this story more than twice in as many days - “I left my home planet, my name, my past, and - I had believed - my debts, behind me. And for ten years I was left alone, to build my career as a thief, and hone my skills. Only then did someone come collecting. They knew my name, they knew what I had done, they knew how I had done it and how much it had cost. They knew exactly how much I owed after ten years of compound interests. But… they were not Brahmese.”

“He said his name was Jon Davies, though I do not believe that to be the truth. He also claimed to be a debt collector for a large multiplanetary company, although he never told me what the name of this company was. He only deigned to explain that his employers had bought out my debt from the original loaners, along with my past and personal information. Apparently New Kinshasa came into quite a bit of strife after what I had done, as did the wealthy family I had made my deal with. They needed to get out of the planet in a rush, and this…  _ nameless company _ provided them with safe passage into the solar planets in exchange for all critical and useful information they may have had. And my debt… my past… it was part of said information.”

Vespa had released her hold on me completely by now, and at this she finally brings her knife down. The expression in her face as she looks at me now, I can’t quite figure it out. And I do not have the time to try. I continue on with my story, hoping she won’t change her mind again. 

“The interest, that’s really how they get you, isn’t it? There was no way I could pay all that I owed in full, not with a lifetime of thieving. And I could not run away any longer. This Davies, his company, they had my whole life on file. Every job I had done, every alias, every face I had donned. I tried, I really did, but he proved to me time and time again that he could find me. Anywhere. No matter what I did or how I disguised myself.” - I try to hold back a shudder as I remember the sheer panic I had felt back then, at the realization I could no longer just  _ disappear. _

“After the fourth time being captured in as many years, I had to admit my defeat. We came to an understanding. Every monetary profit I made I was allowed to keep, but every item, weapon or piece of information that could be of use to them, I had to give to him. Some I would even search out by his commands. And in return, I’d be allowed to live-”

“The only time I ever failed to follow this agreement was back on Mars, the first time Juno and I… worked together. I was supposed to gather every Martian artifact a woman named Miasma was bent on obtaining, and deliver them all back to Davies, but I didn’t. He was” - I feel myself tensing at the memory - “less than pleased with me after that, and after some rather lengthy and painful renegotiation, I was given one last chance. Either I proved myself still useful or he would be finally done with me. I was told to…” - 

I know I have to tell them. Anything less than the absolute truth from me right now only endangers Juno and Buddy further. But I still can’t stand to look at them as I finish my story- 

“I was told to apply to and infiltrate Buddy Aurinko’s crew. He never told me what I was supposed to get for him while I was here, and I initially only offered to retrieve the four items we used in our latest heist, once we were done with them. I think by the end I was just trying to buy some more time, to find a way to get out of this without causing any further harm to any of you. I never even mentioned the Curemother Prime to him. But he knew. He… he always knows”

The end of my confession is only met with silence. I dare not lift my eyes, see the look on their faces as I just confirmed all their worst suspicions about me. I can only carry on in a whisper, my strength failing me suddenly.

“I can’t even imagine what you may think of me right now. But that is not of any importance, not when Juno and Buddy are in the hands of this man. We must get them back. He is dangerous, sadistic, and efficient, and I cannot bear to think of them being under his power. We do not want to know what will happen to them if we let the deadline he has given us go pass, they  _ have  _ to be brought back before then. I am begging you, please… please help me fix this.”

More silence. Five, ten seconds go by. Then…

“They’re probably tracking your comms, so I’ll need to get that fixed.” - Rita starts.- “But trying to get a lead or general direction of the place they sent this message from is probably our best chance to find where they took’em to. I’ll get right on that!”

Jet gathers himself as well, watching as Rita scrambles off to her computer. - “We also need to figure out exactly how they took Juno and Buddy out of the Carte Blanche, to prevent any further invasions. I’ll start checking our security systems, and search for any hull breaches that may have gone unnoticed” 

“Right, I’ll….” - Vespa runs her hands through her hair, as she looks off to Rita and Jet- “I’ll check on the cameras, maybe they caught something. You, thief, just…. just stay here. Don’t  _ do  _ anything. Just…. stay”

Deep breaths, in and out. 

As I look at the three remaining crew members go and do what they can, I let my back slide down the wall until I hit the floor. 

_ Seven days _ , said the message. Seven days to deliver the Curemother Prime. To save Juno and Buddy..

Maybe they can do it. Maybe…  _ we  _ can do it. Any alternative is not acceptable.

Breathe in, breathe out.


	2. The Voice of a Loved One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the crew scrambles to make sense of what is going on, Juno is still the first one to pick up the relevant loose threads, even if he is not actually there.   
> A call happens.  
> Nureyev tries to pull himself back together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a thousand thanks to my beta for this chapter, the lovely Amdis!! Any and all mistakes left are all my own. I really shoudn't do finall editing when I'm recuperating from a night shift, but here we are.

I believe, under different circumstances, we would make a very droll picture right now. Vespa, Jet, Rita and myself all sitting around the kitchen table, still in the same clothes we had gone to sleep in the night before, which for Rita means she’s currently sporting a pink onesie with cat ears and a stinger. I don’t know how much time has passed since I awoke, but I think it’s been long enough that it's no longer late but early. All of us have grim looks on our faces as we look upon the current centerpiece of the table: Juno’s comms.

Vespa looks and sounds exhausted as she bites out, “Rita, you said we need to keep complete radio silence. No signals of any kind, in or out of the ship, until you could figure out exactly who it is that was tailing us and how.”

“Yes Miss Vespa, I said that, but-”

“Have you figured out who was tailing us and how to hide ourselves from them?”

“No, not yet I haven’t. And I mean, I have some of my very good bots running through the system so I know I’m gonna find something soon, but it still takes some time and-”

“Then we can’t open Juno’s comms just to look for some audio files, can we?”- Vespa cuts her off again. She must be feeling just as impatient as I am. - “The moment we try to access his comms, that damned thing is gonna connect to the nebula database or whatever his data provider uses to store his files in, and-”

“But that’s just the thing, it won’t!”- Rita says with confidence-. “Mistah Steel is really bad with this sort of thing, see? So he asked me to make sure it was configured properly. Well, he didn’t say configured, he just said ‘ _ Rita make sure this damn thing only does what I tell it to do _ ’, ‘cause he hates machines that do the thinking and acting for you, and he really hates that nebula file server thing because he thinks information should be kept in one place, and not be all floatin’ around everywhere, even though I told him that’s not how it actually works and there are ways to keep your files safe even in the nebula. But he still didn’t want to use it, and so I made it so his comms don’t upload any files anywhere, they’re all just sitting there on his comms’ physical hard drive. So~, it’s safe to access them!” she finishes in a rush.

We all just stare for a moment, trying to get our minds to understand all the information that was just given to us at Rita-speed, and it’s Jet who is the first one to catch up to her and carry on.

“Alright Rita, so it is safe to access. That still does not explain why you believe it would be helpful in our current predicament.”

“Oh, of course it’s gonna be helpful! Mistah Steel is very smart you know, even if he’s also very silly sometimes, and when something doesn’t seem right he always has to find out why! And he really likes to talk things through; he says writing things only slows him down, but I believe he secretly just likes the sound of his own voice,” she stage-whispers this last point as if Juno could hear her talking about him, and I cannot help but to smile at her. 

“So even back in our HCPD days he would record his own thoughts as he tried to put things together! He even had me transcribe them for a while. And honestly Mistah Ran- ehmm- Nureyev.”- I try to suppress a jolt at hearing her use my real name. They all know it by now, I tol them myself, but I… i am not sure I know how I feel about it. Oh well, it is not important right now, file it away. - “If you were being blackmailed and threatened like that all this time the two of you were together? He must’ve seen it. And he would’ve tried to figure it out, just so he could help you. Because he loves you, and he’s very smart. And he probably wouldn’t have asked you about it directly either, because he is also very silly, see?”

I do not know how to answer. My mind gets stuck replaying all the times Juno  _ has  _ asked me about it over the past year. All the gentle prods and openings in conversation. And last night’s talk- I realize now he seemed less surprised at my confession, and more resigned and saddened by it. 

It suddenly hits me that we did not do that much talking after I was done recounting my story. We did make plans to come clean to Buddy and the rest of the crew this morning, and I know I put some resistance to that idea, but after that I must’ve been so exhausted I simply blacked out. 

My dear Juno, how much could he possibly have figured out already on his own?

Thankfully I don’t need to respond as Vespa sighs deeply, running her hand through her hair for what seems to be the hundredth time in this long morning, and tells Rita to play the first audio file. It is dated ten months ago. Juno’s voice comes clearly through the comms speakers.

_ “Leaving Mars was the right idea, I know it was. But for some reason, part of me doesn’t feel like I actually left at all. All the things that happened in the last year, Ramses, New Town, the Theias. Nothing about the way things ended up ever sat right with me, and I’m not sure I can actually let it go.  _

_ My name is Juno Steel, and I used to be a Private Eye. Not that anyone else will ever be listening to this. Unless.... RITA! If it IS you listening to this, stop it and give me back my comms right now! Snooping in someone else’s files is rude.  _

_ Aaanyway - the Theias must -” _

It feels strangely comforting, listening to Juno’s voice like this. But as the first recording ends, with a flurry of different company names and quick connections I may be too tired to follow, I am hit by the sharp sense of just how much I need for him to be here, to come back. I take a deep breath, and it catches in my throat as I hear the beginning of his second monologue. This one dated eight months ago.

_ “There’s something wrong with… Peter. Yes, Peter, I won’t call him Ransom when I’m just talking to myself but I won’t actually put into a recording what I do call him, so Peter it is. And I don’t know, maybe this is just what he’s  _ **_like_ ** _ , and I never spent enough time around him before to notice it. But he just seems… off. Nervous, like anything can jump out of the shadows and attack him at any time. And it isn’t all the time, either. Usually around everyone else he’s just… as he always seemed when we first met. Relaxed, smooth, all sweet smiles and sharp edges. But sometimes when he thinks no one is watching, there’s this-” _

Dear lord, have I really been so transparent this whole time? Eight months ago! I struggle to keep my attention on what he’s actually saying as my mind goes reeling off a cliff. He says something about possible debts, my past, and what kind of organization would have the means and will to hold these things over me. I honestly can’t even tell how long he keeps talking before the recording ends and all I am left with is a deafening chorus of  _ he knew, he saw me, he could’ve helped me, if I only talked sooner, it’s my fault, he knew, it’s my fault, he knew, he... _

_ Beep - o - BEEP _

We all jump at the sound, taking a couple seconds for it to fully register. Vespa’s comms are ringing with an incoming call. But they can’t be; Rita was blocking every signal out, how - 

_ Beep - o - BEEP _

“Oh, OH!! My bot musta finished with it’s sweep, yay! I programmed it to open up the comm channels when we were fully secure, just let me go check!”

Rita rushes to pick up her computer and starts clicking away at an alarming speed, even by her standards. Vespa’s comms continue to beep away, and as I turn to look at her she is staring at the screen like she’d seen a ghost. Jet seems to notice this at the same time, as he is the one who asks first.

“Vespa, who is trying to contact you right now?”

“It’s…. It’s Buddy. This is her number, right? She’s the one calling?”

She shows us the screen to her comms, and indeed it shows an incoming voice call from Buddy Aurinko. And, I can’t help but notice, a couple of heart emojis next to her name.

Jet gestures for Vespa to wait, and looks at Rita while she continues…. Whatever it is she is doing on her computer. When it feels like it’s been too long, though it may have been thirty seconds to be fair, he calls out to her.

“Rita!”

“I’m on it Mistah Jet!” - Not stopping her relentless clicking for a second, nor sparing us a second glance. - “Just hold on a minute. I can’t use this line or this one, if they see me it’s gonna be very, very not good, but I know how to be real sneaky like, just one more minute… AAAAAGH C’MON C’MON~ oh, alright, I’m in. You can answer now, Miss Vespa!”

“I…. what?”

“If you answer the call, I can locate where it’s coming from much more quickly, and it’s safe to do so now!” - she looks expectantly at Vespa, hands hovering over her keyboard at the ready - “Go on!” 

“R-right….”

“Please use the speakerphone Vespa, I would like to hear Buddy as well,” Jet requests.

“It might not actually  _ be  _ Buddy, Jet” - I say, and I do not think about it maybe being Juno, it is not useful right now to hope to hear his voice, to be certain that he is still alright, but - “Her comms might be in the hands of her captors-”

“And I still would want to hear  _ their  _ voices too. Now Vespa, if you please”

She finally answers the call, the beeping stops and all three of us hold our breaths. Then…

_ “Vespa?-  _ Buddy sounds… well, she sounds like Buddy. As certain and in control as ever - “ _ Hello… Vespa, darling are you there?” _

“Buddy… yes, I am. What… where are you?”

_ “Away, darling. Juno and I had to step out of the Carte Blanche so we could get some deals rolling regarding the spoils of our latest job. I am sorry I didn’t tell you before we left, but I did not wish to wake you, and our contact was very….  _ **_aggressive_ ** _ in their demands, insisting we meet immediately.” _

“That’s…. That’s alright Buddy. And you… you say you have Juno with you. Is everything ok?”

_ “Everything is lovely over here, my dear! But it probably will take longer than anticipated, that’s why I’m calling you now. We will most likely be staying here until our negotiations are completed. Should take no longer than a couple of days, a week at most.” _

Vespa looks at me, confusion and fear clear on her face. I can sympathize, and I know I can’t speak, even though all I can think of is to ask about Juno, to ask to hear his voice. I just shake my head, and maybe she can see some of my feelings on my face, as she carries on.

“A week! Wow, Bud, that’s… a long ass negotiation! Are you sure you’re alright? You know, you and Steel both?”

_ “Yes, darling, we’re perfectly fine. But now that you mention Juno again, it reminds me. Is Rita around?” _

“Yeah, she’s…” Vespa pauses, shooting a quick look to Rita, who is deeply immersed in whatever the screen of her computer is showing her. Then Vespa answers truthfully, “She’s busy right now, Bud. Why, did you need her for something?”

The Captain doesn’t skip a beat.

_ “Not really, I just need you to give her a message. Tell her that I had a long talk with Juno, and she is fired.” _

She talked to Juno and… what? Vespa seems just as confused when she asks that exact same question.

“ Buddy, what?”

Rita has taken her eyes off the screen now, but she doesn’t seem to share in our confusion at this new development. She smiles at us, nods her head and goes back to her work. 

_ “Just give her that message for me, Vespa. Now I have to go. Stay safe, my love. I’m sure I’ll be back in no time. Make sure the ship is in one piece when I return.” _

“Sure Buddy, that’s alright. I’ll… I’ll tell her. You stay safe too, yeah? Both of you.”

_ “We will, darling. I… see you soon.” _

The call gets disconnected, and we all start talking at once. 

“She didn’t sound well at all.”

“What the blazes was that?”

“Rita, did you manage to get a location?”

I have gone through so many different emotions in such a short period of time that I’m not sure what I’m going to say until I actually say it, not that it stops me anymore. Upon later consideration I will certainly find this new lack of self control rather alarming. But, as things stand right now, all I can do is blurt out, “What the  _ hell  _ does that mean?”

Our resident hacker seems utterly absorbed by her screens, still clicking away, and all she does is wave a hand at us and shush us. She actually shushes us!

“Rita! We need to know where they are, and what that all was about. Can you  _ please  _ -”

“Alright, alright, hold on to your horses for just a tick people! I was about to get a precise location when the call ended, so now I’m trying to follow the lead before too much noise gets in the way, and I’m reeeeally closing in. I already know what orbit they was callin’ from, aaaaand…. YES!! Oh, I am good, I am very good indeed.” She raises her arms, seemingly in victory, and makes a few small jumps that make the stinger on her pajamas bounce up and down. 

“I’m gonna have to get some sorta raise after this! Do you know how many people could do this without being noticed and traced back? Not many people, I tell you that!” - a pause while she looks upon our collective breaths being held, and - “They’re on Ganimede! You know, going around Jupiter?”

“Oh…- I still don't feel like I can take an actual breath, but Jet collects himself the quickest as usual- “Well alright then. I’ll change our course. Good job, Rita”

“Thank you, Mistah Jet”

“Rita, what was all that about Buddy firing you?” - Vespa still looks quite rattled, I faintly notice - “Why would she -”

“Oh don’t worry about it Miss Vespa, that’s just Mistah Steel letting me know he’s in trouble and needs my help! So, you see, now we know they’re both together, because there’s no way Captain Buddy would’ve known to say that without Mistah Steel telling her to, and they’re probably both still fine, but they really are in trouble so Mistah Nureyev was probably telling the truth, and we know where they are, so we just have to go there and get them!”

Oh, thank god! As I slowly come back to myself I notice my hands are shaking. Just when did that start? They’re cold and clammy, and I belatedly realize I must’ve been sweating because my back feels cold too. My head swims with relief… was I truly this certain Juno could’ve been already gone before this call happened? I put my head between my knees, trying to get myself back together, as I hear Vespa and Jet go back to the control room to steer the ship towards Jupiter. I assume. Did someone speak to me before they left? I’m not sure. 

He’s alive. 

I breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, Kudos feed me and Comments give me life.


	3. Down the Rabbit Sewer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rita does a lot of research, and we begin to see the shape of things more clearly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, a million thanks to Amdis for betaing this and making it make more sense, and endless affection to Hawke for all her pom pom waving!! 
> 
> (Rita POV - I'm sorry but Nureyev is currently having a Blue Screen of Death event and is not available for the forseeable future)

I’m Rita. I’m good at what I do. And what I do, right now, is try and track all the ideas my boss had about Mistah Nureyev’s problems. Which ain’t easy, because Mistah Steel had a lot of ideas. Like, _a_ _lot_ a lot _._ And not all of them fully formed either, and that makes it a lot harder to track them. But we need to know who we’re dealing with here, ideally before we get to Ganimede and actually deal with’em. And Mistah Nureyev was right when he said these people were hard to find! 

It’s almost like that stream I saw a while back, with the giant space spider and the web that would reach so far you couldn’t see where it’s edges were when you were stuck in the middle of it. Only, in that stream, the space pirates had that laser that could light up the web and they could find their way out…. Ooh I guess we could be thought of as space pirates! That’s really cool - 

No! Focus, Rita! Alright, so whoever they are, they want the Curemother Prime, right? So it makes sense to start looking at pharmaceutical companies first, and Mistah Steel mentioned in one of his recordings how Fresh Starts had merged with Solar Medical Solutions right after the whole mess with the Theias, and how maybe they were the ones behind that whole mess and  _ that’s _ why they started their product testing on Mars in the first place. And that would tie them with Mayor O’Flaherty, and that would tie them with Northstar… maybe it’s like John Moles said in the “Martian Consultant Detective: FOR HIRE!” streams, just  _ follow the money _ , right? So, who funded the Theias and New Town? That could be something… hmmm

Looking at banks operating on all Solar Planets and some Outer Rim ones too could be a good way to start. I need a new bag of chips while I wait for the info. Maybe I should offer some to Mistah Thief? I don’t think he’s even moved from that chair since we got that call from the Captain, he clearly didn’t have any breakfast. 

When I look at him, he’s still staring at Mistah Steel’s comms, like he wus waiting for a call or something. It seems he’s gonna start another one of the boss’s recordings again. Oh well, I’ll just leave an open bag next to him, maybe he’ll take a chip or two in between the worrying and the moping. 

**_“I have no idea if Northstar knew or knows by now about the Theias, but I kinda doubt that O’Flaherty could’ve kept something so big hidden from his main funders. They gotta move money from more than stream franchises, right? And with them buying into the Kanagawa’s media empire, and old Croesus’ ties with black market weapons… I know Min would find that line of business palatable to say the least…”_ **

Yes, yes, Mistah Steel. I know the Kanagawas are fishy, and from what I can see here they do have some stocks in Fresh Starts from way back when, but the Theias…. cooould be used as a weapon easily, of course! Maybe even be used by soldiers. Mista Mercury was wicked fast and strong and scary when he had that soul chip thingy on him… 

Oh, there are some interesting money movements here. Hmm this server looks interesting, if I just take a look…. Ooooh, very protected, much more than seems necessary for such a smallish branch of a smallish bank! Alright, let’s get in here.

**_“Goddamit, what am I gonna do about this? I can’t just go and talk to Buddy about it, not without Peter agreeing to it. I guess I could ask Rita to help me look into things, she’s bound to find… something. Heh, maybe she already has. Wouldn’t that be funny? Me racking my brains trying to figure out exactly what kind of trouble Peter is into, and Rita already knowing everything about it. Wouldn’t even be the first time she jumped ahead of me on something with the way she looks for information.”_ **

That’s right Mistah Boss, I  _ am _ that good and always have been. Would’ve been nice to hear him say it to my face and not into his comms, but it’s still good. 

I have to keep focused, c’mon Rita! Ok, there’s a lot of massive creds movements here, more than I’d expect for a bank that’s supposedly small. Where… Where on Mars are the names attached to the creds on this list? Impressive encrypting…

I’m gonna have a hard time focusing if Mistah Nureyev keeps sighing and listening to the boss’ recordings though! Hmmm… Still, I don’t think I should leave him alone right now.. And maybe I’ll catch something from Mistah Steel I didn’t notice the first time around… or the second…

__

**_“The thing is, if Peter doesn’t feel confident enough to tell me about it, maybe… dammit, maybe I shouldn’t even be looking into it. I mean… I trust him. And we’re in a relationship right now, so telling myself I trust him is not enough. I have to actually act like I trust him, right? And… I know he’ll tell me when he feels safe enough to do so. I also…. I think he does feel safe with me? I know, I know I messed up when we were getting started, but we’ve gotten better at this, right? No… it’s something else. It’s like, he’s scared for me, not about me. I know he trusts me but… god, I hate seeing him so anxious.”_ **

Yeah, tell me about it, Boss. I’m getting a tummy ache just being in the same room with him. Ok 

Rita, I think we’re getting somewhere. So, this list of coded users should decrypt with this algorithm but I’m gonna need to get the dates to match… and those are encrypted too! Man alive, what is the deal with these people? 

**_“I’m just gonna have to… ask him again. He gets so guarded when I bring it up, but I don’t think there’s another way. Not without hurting him, and I… I really don’t want to do that. Not again.”_ **

Huh, he did ask Mistah Nureyev directly about it. So maybe he isn’t as silly as I said. Good for him!

“Oh Juno…”

I turn to look at Mistah Nureyev, just as he places his head on the table, and boy does he look bad! Like someone kicked his puppy, and then kicked him, and then shot him in the gut, repeatedly, with a blaster that has no stun setting. He must’ve heard all of the boss’ recordings thrice by now, it’s been hours! 

I knew I should’ve talked to him when I first came back from showering and changing clothes, but Miss Vespa told me to look for the plans of every building on Ganimede they could be keeping the boss and the captain in, and that’s taken some doing, and I needed to look into the possible companies behind it as well and… 

Oh alright, I can just say I’m still mad at Mistah’s Nureyev and Steel for not TELLING. ANYONE. ANYTHING. It’s ok to be mad, right? Even at the people you love most. Mistah Steel does it all the time… Right! Just focus on your job, Rita. You can do this!

Is… is he crying now? Oh dear, oh dear…

“Ehm… Mistah Nureyev, sir? Are you ok?”

He just sniffles a little, doesn’t even lift his head. Oh dear… I need to do something, he looks miserable. 

_**PING** _

Oh that made me jump! My computer, finally some results!! Maybe if I tell him it will help him feel better.

“Oh, look Mistah Nureyev! I finally got into the encrypted data of this one bank I was looking into!! Let’s see here… Whaaaat… But most of these people don’t even live on Mars so why would they be using a Martian bank like this? Oh ok, so these names I recognize, these others I think are Terran, right? Oh, wait… Where have I seen all these last names all put together like this before? I swear they were even in the same order… Jones, Doe, Miller, Merrian, Leeds…”

Wait, I remember now! But, that can’t be… oh my god, this is  _ huge!! _ I have to get the others!

“Hang on, I need to get Miss Vespa and Jet here. I think I know who is behind your Mistah Davies!” - At that, he finally looks up at me but I’m already halfway to the door.

“Wait, Rita! What do you mean?”

I turn around, and...I guess he really needs something good to focus on? And maybe he’ll be in less of a sorry state when I come back with the rest of the family if I give him something else to put his mind to. So I should tell him.

“That list of names, all those families with the huge cred transactions, in that really fishy bank I was looking into? Dark Matters had that exact same list on file. From what I could see back then, it started out as a group of interest, possibly dangerous, and they was keepin’ an eye on them. But over the last couple of years, it seems they became more like their elitest clientele. It’s a single organization; five really,  _ really _ wealthy families, all solar in origin, with fingers in pretty much every single cookie jar there is. Very hush-hush too, even Dark Matters only knew them as “The Board of Directors”. It’s all very “Mourne’s Identity: Money talks but Bullets Scream.” Like very dramatic and secretive, and it also really fits what you told us about this Davies fellow, right? I think it also really makes sense if it was to do with what Mistah Steel was going on about with New Town and pharma companies and weapons companies and media and the like, right? Like how it was all funded and then covered up. That would take a lot of money and power, and it was always weird how no one could really get to where it was all coming from, so...”

He seems to come back a little after hearing me out, like he’s actually here with me and not wherever he’s been for the past however many hours. 

“Now, you just wait here mistah. I have to go get Miss Vespa and Jet and then we can talk this out. And I think my search on Ganimede’s buildings is pretty much done so we can look into that too. Be right back!”

I rush out before he can say anything else. Time is ticking! If I’m right, these people really would hurt Mistah Steel and the Captain if we don’t do something soon. They wouldn’t care because they wouldn’t even be there! They just give the order, from their cozy offices on the hundredth floor of their fancy buildings. They never have to see the people they hurt, they only work with numbers. And I’ll be a Neptunian Frog before I allow my Boss and my Captain to become another couple of numbers to them!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope this was enjoyable, I promise we're like one chapter away from getting some actual action scenes in this thing. If I could only get the voice of my bad guy to come out right...
> 
> Kudos bring me joy and comments make me soar!


	4. The Monster in the Basement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juno has had better days. To be fair, he's also had worse days. But with the way things are going, it may be going from bad to worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JUNO POV!! I have been waiting to use the "My name is Juno Steel" line ever since I started this chapter. 
> 
> As always, a million thanks to Amdis, the bestest beta ever, every mistake is mine, not hers. And all the love to Hawke, without whom I wouldn't be so certain that the bad guy in here is truly despicable.

Waking up tied to a chair is never pleasant. And as I say that, I realize it’s probably not a good thing that it’s happened to me enough times to know that as a fact. My head aches, my back is killing me, and my tongue feels like the carpet of a busy movie theater after a kiddie show just ended. But I’m just trying to stay calm until the goons that took Buddy away bring her back.

My name is Juno Steel. Former P.I., current hostage. And right now I am pissed as hell.

The room I’m in is all white, shiny enough to push my headache into a full blown migraine. All I can see is the closed door in front of me, a security camera in the corner, and nothing else. Not even dust! That’s just… creepy.

Goddammit! Last night we actually had a plan, Nureyev and I. Well, not so much a plan as an acceptable course of action. And  _ this  _ wasn’t a part of it! We were going to come clean, tell the truth, trust in our family, and get some help. The story Nureyev finally shared with me was, in reality, a lot less bad than I had thought. Just him being blackmailed within an inch of his sanity. 

Even if the source of it remained kinda shady. Nothing we couldn’t figure out together, right?

The thing is, though, while we were talking last night, he really… he looked… really scared, ok? I didn’t like seeing him like that. He’s… he’s Peter Nureyev for crying out loud! Master thief extraordinaire, the man of a thousand faces and a million getaways. He’s not supposed to feel…  _ afraid _ . But he really was.

_ ~~~ _

_ “Juno, please, we can’t bring the others into this. It’s bad enough that I’ve told  _ you _. If anyone else-” _

_ “Bad enough? Nureyev, it seems to me that sharing this problem is the smartest thing you’ve done onboard this ship the entire year!” _

_ “Dear, you don’t know what these people are capable of. The things I have seen this one man do, in the name of collecting debts and keeping things under control… I don’t want anyone in our f… in our crew, to go anywhere near him.  _ Especially  _ you!” _

_ ~~~ _

Well, that certainly worked out the way he wanted it, huh? I wake up in the middle of the night, get antsy, go out for a walk. Run into this goon just taking Buddy out of the sickbay, and he manages to hit me with some sort of gas that knocks me out. And now we’re trapped, god knows where, with no way to tell anyone in our crew how to get here. Not to mention the Carte Blanche doesn’t really have star jumping capability, so I don’t know if we’re within reach of them even if they knew where to find us.

Buddy is brought back very quickly, even if it doesn’t really feel like it. By my count, the two big guys in black uniforms with matching black helmets and visors that cover their entire face - I’m thinking whoever runs this place doesn’t have much of an imagination - only took her away for about 15 minutes. And thankfully she doesn’t look too bad when she walks back in. 

I mean, she’s looked pretty bad for the past two days but she was getting better. Still, and call me crazy here, I was afraid that being abducted from her sick bed, drugged and tied up, then hauled all the way through an actual star jump,  _ could  _ have made her take a turn for the worse. Truly, it wouldn’t be surprising, right?

Ok, Steel, one problem at a time. Buddy’s already tied back to her chair, I guess, not that I can really see her from where I’m sitting. And there goes interchangeable masked goons numbers one and two, leaving us alone again. 

“Buddy, hey, are you alright over there?”

“Just peachy, darling. You?”

Her voice sounds less tired than it did before. That’s good.

“What did they want with you just now? What happened?”

“Just as you thought, Juno. Our captor wanted me to reassure the Carte Blanche that we were both alright, free, and somewhere else. He made me call Vespa.”

“Oh, well, did you tell her what I told you to? Ya know, the message for Rita?”

“I did, dear. But I have to wonder if the message was received the way you thought it would be. I know Vespa was suspicious of my story over the comms, but how does firing Rita fit into anything?”

“It’s… it’s a long story. She’ll get it, trust me.” It’s worked well enough before. If only Rita gets on Nureyev’s side, they can probably convince the others. “Did you get to talk to anyone else on the ship?”

“No darling, I didn’t get to talk to Ransom. But according to what you’ve told me, that was rather the point of that whole charade, yes?”

I sigh before I can stop myself. Nureyev… I really hope he managed to speak to the others before this call happened. I think he’s certainly had the time to. I dunno, at least Rita already knows his real name so she can confirm his story if he comes out, right? And if she gets the facts right... I just really wish I knew how he was doing. 

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” I need to get my head on straight, there has to be something more we can do here. “Did you see anything else? Something that might help us get out of here?”

“All I saw was a lot of narrow white corridors. This place seems to be built like a maze, really. No natural light, no windows. We could even be underground for all I know. But it seems to be a very large facility, the walk there and back was a very long one. My conversation with Vespa didn't take longer than five minutes.” 

Ok, that’s bad news. There must be something we can use though. “And what about other rooms? Other people?”

“I only saw one other room, where my comms were waiting. A small, square room with plain white walls, a lot like this one. The man I assume to be our captor was there, though he didn’t say much outside of telling me what to do and say.” Buddy’s tone is as annoyed as it was when dealing with a particularly irritating waiter at a Saturnian café. “I only saw two other guards standing behind the apparent boss, and three guards along the way standing in front of three different closed doors, all in the same silly outfit. There were many other doors along the way there and every one of them was closed when I passed. Numerous security cameras, not many blindspots that I could find. And I didn’t hear a single noise that would help me figure out who or what else might be trapped here with us.”

Well, that’s not as helpful as I had hoped, but it’s still something. Rooms are probably soundproofed. The guards all wear the same black helmets that cover half their face, and there doesn’t seem to be that many of them. If we’re actually underground there probably don’t need to be. 

And if this place is as big as Buddy thinks, our chances of finding the exit without access to some sort of map are real shitty.

“Don’t worry about it, dear.” - Dammit, how does she always seem to know what I’m thinking? - “We’ll work something out, I’m sure of it.”

“Yeah, sure, why not. I’ve gotten out of worse.” She laughs at that, and I can’t help but notice the painful groan she tries to stifle afterwards. “Buddy, hey… are you sure you’re alright?”

“Juno, we already covered this. I’m fine-”

“I know, I know, it’s just,” It’s just that Vespa made it clear Buddy still needed another round of treatment. That she needed to rest, she needed time to recuperate. Turns out having your heart stop several times in less than an hour can do some damage to you, who knew? But there’s no way she’s getting any further treatment while we’re here, so there’s really no point in me bringing it up. “I just worry, Buddy. That’s all.” 

“That’s very sweet of you dear.”

“I’m not sweet!”

“I beg to differ! You are quite the sweet young lady when you feel like you want to be.”

I usually would bristle at that, but right here and now? I’m just glad she’s still got her sense of humor. Can’t be too badly hurt if she can crack jokes like that. I hope. 

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get back to something actually useful, ‘k?”

We spend a long time afterwards talking things through. I tell Buddy everything Nureyev told me about his debtors, and this Davies guy who is probably the man holding us now. I manage to make it somewhat coherent without giving her Nureyev’s actual name. I feel he’s gonna want to tell her that himself. 

Then we try to come up with a way out of here. It doesn’t go too well. We were both drugged and taken in our pajamas, so no weapons or tools to break ourselves free from these chairs. No idea of where we are, how long it took to get us here, or how many doors stand between us and the outside. And no clue as to how we’d manage to leave whatever planet this is even if we did manage to get out. 

It seems our only option is to wait for our family to find us then get us out. 

Still tied to our chairs. 

And my nose itches. That’s great. Just great.

\---------------------

After what may have been a couple of hours or an entire day, no way to be sure, someone comes into our cell. Not one of the guards; no uniform. He’s a short man with blond hair slicked back, cold gray eyes and a frozen smile that doesn’t seem to reach anything else on his face. He’s wearing a sharp suit, covering a deceptively scrawny build, and moving in an efficient, measured manner. His black shoes shine even brighter than the white floor. 

I decide I don’t like this man, and that’s even before he speaks. When he does, his voice is so cloyingly grating as to give me a toothache.

“Hello, hello, and welcome to my base of operations. Buddy Aurinko and Juno Steel, that’s two legends for the price of one! Very effective of my subordinates. I do apologize for the lack of any creature comforts today, it took a while to get proper accommodations ready.”

He looks at us expectantly, hands brought together as if in excitement. Something tells me I don’t want to know what excites a man like this. Neither Buddy nor I respond, so he just keeps talking. 

“I guess congratulations are in order! I know you successfully managed to acquire a most valuable and rare specimen. The Curemother Prime! That’s quite a feat. There are many groups that have tried and failed before you.”

“Is that what you’re looking to obtain by bringing us here?” Buddy finally responds, voice both sure and bored at the same time. She’s good. “I’m sorry, but I don’t keep the Curemother in my sleepwear, darling. For one, it is quite slimy.”

“Oh no, no, dearest Miss Aurinko! I do not intend for  _ you _ to deliver me the specimen. You must know by now that I have a man on the inside. Now, I know he’s been acting more erratically than expected over the past, oh, year and a half I think? When was it that whole affair with the Martian artifacts and that loony xenoanthropologist took place, Mister Steel?” - _ oh crap _ \- “Could be closer to two years now that I think about it. Anyway, he’s still going to procure the Curemother Prime for our organization. You two being here is just  _ collateral. _ ”

Buddy stays silent, and I… my mind is racing. How much does he actually know? How much does he know  _ I _ know? I decide my best course of action is just to let him go on ranting. He seems to like monologuing. He looks at me and his smile seems to be more genuine right now. How come that’s even  _ more _ unsettling than before?

“You in particular, Mister Steel. I’m expecting my man to find what I want and bring it over quite quickly if it means keeping  _ you  _ safe. And anyway, I know the Curemother Prime is not on your vessel. It’s just that neither I nor my man on board your crew have been capable of learning where it was taken to. Hence why Miss Aurinko is also with us; see Mister Steel, if your paramour fails to deliver, then I am sure both Ilkay and Sikuliaq will be more than willing to bring the specimen in exchange for  _ her _ . My attempt at misdirection earlier was only in the hopes of keeping the number of people involved to a bare minimum for the time being.”

He walks a little around us, and is now facing Buddy straight ahead. I think. Out of the corner of my eye I can just make out the creepy smile he still wears as he goes on.

“You  _ did _ know you have a traitor amongst your crew, don’t you Miss Aurinko?”

“I’m assuming you’re alluding to Peter Ransom? No other paramour of Juno’s comes to mind. Did he tell you about the Curemother Prime being relocated?”

“Oh no, no, dear Miss Aurinko, I learned that all on my own. Funny things, comms, one always forgets that they’re constantly listening. Hmm… Ransom, you say? Interesting. I do not think that’s what your trusted associate here calls my man when they’re alone-”

“Stop calling him your man! He is not-”

“Then what should I call him, Mister Steel? Hmm?” He walks back around to face me, and leans forward until I can smell the mint on his breath. “Shall I tell your captain here who he really is? What he’s done? What he’s capable of, hmm?” 

“Wow, you really like the sound of your own voice, don’t you Davies?” His smile freezes at that, he’s clearly getting annoyed at me. Good. “I  _ know _ who he is and what he’s capable of. And he is  _ not _ your man.”

“Yes, Mister Steel, I also  _ know _ he only told you about me just last night. After what, a year of being together? Are you quite sure you know him as well as you claim?” He grabs my chin with one of his hands, soft yet unyielding, forcing my eye upon his. “But you may still have a point there. After all, his latest status reports have all been incredibly sparse. He’s volunteered no information about the Curemother Prime. Actually, he has failed to give me any useful information about your  _ crew  _ at all. That secretary of yours, for instance, is still a mystery to me. Why, I don’t even know her last name! And if it wasn’t for the fact that I have my own ways of obtaining information, I might not even have been aware of when your ultimate heist was completed.”

He steps away from me finally and as he walks away, wiping his hands on a handkerchief he produced from somewhere, he adds, “You’re probably right, he’s no longer  _ my man _ . But that does not mean I do not still own him, Mister Steel. He has grown soft, grown attached to you and your ragtag crew, and so he has almost outlived his usefulness.”

My mind goes back to my talk with Nureyev last night, how frightened he looked, and it’s suddenly starting to make more sense. Shit.

“But as long as I have you two with me, I do know he’ll comply with my requests. After all, he has seen what I do to the families of those who forfeit payment.”

He stops at the door, and looks back at us just as one of the faceless guards opens the door.

  
“Someone will come to take you both to more appropriate quarters. You won’t be staying in the same space, I’m afraid. I am not an imbecile. But you will be fed and sheltered for the next, oh, six days. After that, if  _ your man _ fails to come through Mister Steel, I shall have to resort to my contingency plan. Which includes  _ you _ , Miss Aurinko, and your lovely  _ fiancée. _ Of course that would mean  _ you _ will no longer be of much use, Mister Steel. And I’ll be frank with you, I do not  _ keep  _ useless things. But, as they say, one day at a time. See you soon.”


	5. Straight from the Monster's Mouth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entertainment for the entire family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It. Is. Done!!
> 
> Just so you know, the tag for "canon typical violence" is meant to be for this chapter and the next. Nothing too gruesome still, but fair warning.
> 
> And as usual, a million thanks to the best beta ever Amdis, she's a doll! And a zillion hearts to my everlasting cheerleader Hawke, without whom this fic may have died in the middle of chapter two.

It’s been at least two days I’ve been stuck in this room, at least counting by the number of meals I’ve been given. And I’m about ready to tear my own hair out! Two days and I have no idea how Buddy is doing, no one to talk to, no way to know how the crew is doing, how Nureyev is…

I sit down on the plain mattress I was given. Rub my face, try to get some deep breaths in. Just like Jet taught me: breathe in, count to four, breathe out, count to four. With enough repetitions I finally feel a little less like I’m vibrating out of my skin. 

I lay back down. This room is entirely white, just like the one I was in with Buddy before. All shiny, solid white. So is the mattress; entirely foam and gel, not a single metal spring I can use. The door has no visible lock from this side in any case, the line separating it from the actual wall is barely visible. No other furniture either. Well, there is the “bathroom” thing, but I never did understand how to use those dang space efficient three seashells properly so the less I think about  _ that _ the better. 

Of course all this white doesn’t give me much else to focus on. I close my eyes against the bright white, and once again my mind decides to show me Nureyev’s face. Not happy, nor pissed off, but frightened. Like he was that last night on the Carte Blanche. I can hear his voice all over again.

~~

_ “If you knew what he has done, Juno, you’d understand-” _

_ “Well then  _ tell me _ Nureyev! That’s the whole point of what we’re doing here. Just, talk to me!” _

_ “He likes to… share what he does to his victims with other prisoners he may have at any given time. Claims it is efficient to use one bout of ‘encouragement’ to help everyone see what they could be up against next. This one time, there was this man who had tried to run away, I think he was some sort of scientist. But that’s not important. What matters is, he had a family. A wife, and three little ones. God, I think the youngest child wasn’t even three years old. Juno, by the time he was done, they-” _

_ ~~ _

Shit! Stop it, stop, just… shit, shit! I get up again, start pacing around the room  _ again _ , try breathing like Jet told me to,  _ again.  _ Damnit, how many times have I been through this exact same goddamn cycle! I have to think of something else. Anything else. Nureyev’s with Rita. And Jet, and Vespa. And they’re really good at what they do, they all are. So, they’ll get us out of here. I know it. And they won’t get caught trying, and fucking Davies won’t get his hands on…

There’s movement outside the door. It’s too soon for it to be another tray of bland, tasteless food. The door opens and it’s two faceless guards in black uniforms, same as all the others. Maybe not the same ones as before though, size and build don’t seem to match. They must have changed shifts again. 

They don’t talk. Just manhandle me into a pair of cuffs and push me out into the hall. Not like I put up much of a fight, anything that gets me out of this room is a welcome change. 

Eventually we come into what I asume is Davies’s office, and at least this room isn’t fucking white! It’s a very large room, warmly lit, with synth wood covering the walls, actual live plants on every corner, and a couple of really comfortable looking chairs in the middle of a plush red carpet with a small round coffee table in the middle. A well stocked bar by the opposite wall reminds me that I  _ really  _ could use a drink. 

By the looks of the metal chair I’m immediately tied to, and the menacing feel of some very pointy instruments waiting on a table right in front of me, I have the feeling I won’t be offered a drink. Shame, really. 

Once I’m firmly tied down, the goons that brought me in go to stand by either side of the door, as silent and still as always. Somehow they feel even creepier than usual… Are they even breathing? Jeeze...

A couple of minutes go by before Davies comes in. He doesn’t even spare me a look. Just sits on the chair facing the door, his back to me, and waits. Good thing I don’t feel like talking to him either then.

A couple more minutes, and…  _ he _ walks in. And even being trapped in this place, I… damn it, it’s good to see him. But I really hope he has a decent plan and brought some back up. I stay silent; can’t really make any moves unless I know what the official rescue is going to be. 

He does look good, even if he won’t look at me, his eyes focused on the threat ahead of him. All calm and business-like, he moves smoothly and talks with a bored lilt to his voice. That’s… a good sign, yeah?

“Hello Davies. I believe you said we needed to talk.”

“Yes I did, Peter. Please, do sit down. Would you care for a drink?”

“Sure” Peter moves to sit down and anyone who didn’t really know him would be certain he’s perfectly at home. I wonder if Davies falls for his act. “You know what I like. Make it a double, please, it’s been a long trip.”

“Ah, of course Peter.” Davies stands up to walk towards the bar, and Nureyev finally looks my way for a second. It’s… a lot, in one single look. And then he's back into business mode, and my heart is racing. “I  _ am _ somewhat surprised that you made it over here so quickly. Did you manage to procure the Curemother Prime already?”

“Of course not, Davies. How could I have, when up until that last text you  _ never mentioned the Prime as being your main objective here _ ? When I told you I was going to bring all four artifacts the Aurinko’s obtained to use in this last heist, you  _ failed to mention _ what you were really after was a fairytale turned real.” 

I can’t see the look on the slimy bastard’s face since he’s standing behind me but, judging by the grin on Nureyev’s face, it must’ve been amusing.

“Or did you really believe I rushed over here to, what, rescue a former mediocre detective turned even worse thief, and an elder has-been legend turned self-proclaimed captain?” I hear the sound of ice and then liquid hitting the bottom of a glass. Nureyev goes on, “I was working my way into stealing the Blade, the Globe and the Book. I already have a copy of the Key in my possession. And following the path to ensuring I could leave the Carte Blanche with all of these items, with no one on the crew being aware of my true name or intentions, means that right now  _ no one _ on board that ship actually  _ trusts me _ , Davies. So, when the final heist was successful,  _ I was not privy to the exact location of the Curemother’s new hiding place _ .”

Davies walks back to his chair, leaving Nureyev’s drink on the table between them, and then takes a sip of his own. There’s a pause as he sits down, I swear I can hear my own heartbeat, and then he responds in that same sickly sweet voice of his. 

“What are you trying to tell me, Peter? If I had told you what your ultimate goal was to be in the beginning then you would have handled things differently?”

“Well, of course I would have! Davies, you know as well as I: one fits the role one plays to the needs of the job! Had you told me the facts from the beginning, you would have received the Curemother Prime five days ago!” He stops to take the glass in his hands, moving it around to make the ice cubes clink with each other. “As things stand, I would be lucky if anyone who knows it’s current location were to give me the time of day. Vespa Ilkay despises me, Jet Siquliak is as communicative as a door, and all this detective’s secretary is good for is talking about streams. And that comms call you had Aurinko make right after this abduction of yours certainly didn’t help matters. If I had been allowed to do my job  _ properly,  _ I would’ve been the one tasked with hiding the Curemother after the heist then none of this would’ve been necessary!”

Davies turns his head and looks at me. He seems… amused. Shit.

“What do you say to that, Mister Steel? Should I buy what my thief on a leash is trying to sell me?”

“Hey, don’t put me in the middle of this when you two clearly have a history together! You figure shit out!”

“Hm, cute.” He turns back around to face Nureyev. Shit, shit, this can’t be your entire plan, can it? Please tell me there’s more to it, babe, there has to be. “But you see, Peter. I have seen first hand what an accomplished liar you are, and this? My good man, this is weak.”

“Really, Davies?” And that’s the dangerous smile I know and love right there. He’s still looking confident, that’s good. “What makes you so sure I’m lying right now?” 

“You see, Peter. I happen to know, for a fact, that you have gone soft on me. And I have the evidence to back it up.”

He reaches for some sort of control panel hidden on the table in front of him, and presses a button. Suddenly my voice and Nureyev’s are coming from hidden speakers all around the room.

**_“C’mon, Nureyev. Give that back to me, I was reading!”_ **

**_“You were, dear detective, but it’s not my fault you look so enticing while doing that. Or doing anything at all, really.”_ **

**_“Pfft, right, I’m on my oldest t-shirt and fluffy bunny socks. I’m sure I look ravishing.”_ **

**_“Oh Juno, you really do.”_ **

**_“Stop it~ I know that look on your face, just let me finish this last chapter, then I can… oh.... OH…. mmmm… oh, alright, I can… hmm… I can finish the chapter tomorrow…”_ **

**_“Mhmm, of course. I’ll even mark your place in the book, my love.”_ **

**_“Oh, shut up and get back to what you were doing!”_ **

The recording stops there, thanks to small miracles. Nureyev looks frozen to the spot.  ****

“Now, that doesn’t mean-” Before he can even finish a sentence, Davies presses the button again.

**_“I really fail to see_ ** **how** **_my idle doodling could have looked like secret, nefarious messages or evil plans to you, my dear.”_ **

**_“Well, it’s really not that farfetched, is it?”_ **

**_“They’re_ ** **doodles,** **_my love. One was of a kitty. How could it possibly have any secret meaning?”_ **

**_“Ha! Remind me to show you how Rita takes quickhand notes sometime. Now, I don’t claim to understand it, but I swear she can put an entire conversation into the drawing of a cat or something like that. I’ve seen her do it!”_ **

**_“Oh… well, I’m not that surprised really. If anyone could do something like that it would be our Rita. You know, she learned Jovian numerology in one day just so she could code that bot to hack into the security cameras for our last job. It didn’t take her more than a couple of hours. She’s really impressive.”_ **

The recording stops again. This time Nureyev looks like he’s about to throw up.

“Davies, I can tell you that-” And for a third time, the smug bastard presses the same goddamn button.

**_“My love, I know you would want to help me if I told you what’s wrong, and if circumstances were different I would want you to, but in this-”_ **

**_“Nureyev, dammit. Please, just talk to me? We… we don’t have to do anything about it you don’t want to do, but I just… you’re on edge all the time, it’s only been getting worse, and I’m worried about you. You... you’re important to me, ok? I hate to think you’re hurting and I can’t help.”_ **

**_“Oh, darling…”_ **

There’s some sounds that are clearly kissing noises, and I close my eyes as if it could help the stupid blush creeping up my face. But I remember this conversation, it was the night Buddy and I were taken, and this can’t be good, it can’t…

**_“Juno… you are, without a doubt, the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. That’s why, the thought of something happening to you, the very idea of losing you love, I can’t -”_ **

**_“You won’t, ‘reyev, you won’t lose me. Ever. Nureyev, I just want to know-”_ **

Davies presses the button again, and the room is suddenly silent. Shit, this is bad. I look at Nureyev and, from where I’m sitting, he’s still and completely expressionless. But it’s clear that all of his blood has left his face. He lifts his hand to take a sip of his drink, and the glass is clearly shaking as he brings it back down to the table. Fuck!

“Well, isn’t that something. Davies, I have to ask, how did you…?”

“The comms, Nureyev, he says they’re always listening somehow.” I try to keep my voice steady. Try to help  _ him  _ calm down. “I am kinda curious as to how he got around Rita. You’d think she’d notice something like that.”

“Oh, well, not when the signals I have access to are actually the ones used by your officially contracted data plans, Mister Steel! One of the many perks of having connections in high places, you see.”

“So your employers include the owners of ‘Orbital Data’? I don’t remember their names on the list of families included in the Board of Directors, Davies. But maybe they’re just a shell company, hm?” Nureyev’s cool and collected look is back in place. Alright, where are you going with this babe? Oh, and Davies's back looks tense now. That’s a first.

“What did you just say, thief?”

“The Board of Directors, Davies. The people who sign your paychecks? I know of their ties to pharma companies, media and entertainment, weapons manufacturing and distribution, infrastructure, real estate, and... what did you once call it? Ah yes, peacekeeping! But their involvement in communication and data sharing is news to me! Tell me, is it only ‘Orbital Data’ or are they also involved with ‘Orchard Tech’?” He actually looks smug right now, and man is that a good look on him. 

Davies sits still for a good five seconds before he visibly relaxes in his seat and says, “You’re bluffing, Peter. There’s no way you know about -”

“The five old wealthy families that claim the right to govern every facet of our existence, all across the galaxy, and have done so for quite longer that should be accepted? Oh, I know about them now, Davies. Shall I list their names?”

“... you’re bluffing.”

“Jones. Doe. Miller. Merrian. Leeds” 

Oh…. ooooooh that makes sense. And wow, Davies gets up from his seat really fast! He looks real pissed as he’s walking towards me. Nureyev still looks like the fox that stole the milk, right up until Davies moves closer to the table full of sharp threatening devices waiting besides me. 

“You will tell me how you came to this information, thief, and you will tell me now. You know very well what I can do with the tools at my disposal here.”

He looks more serious now, still relaxed but no longer smiling, as he answers.

“Yes, Davies, I know what you’re capable of. The question is, do your employers know? Are they aware of how many lives you have destroyed in their name? How much pain and suffering you have caused just to further fill their already obscene bank accounts?”

“Aware of it? Peter, please, the gusto I take with my work is the sole reason for my monthly bonuses! Why, the eldest son and heir to the Miller family pays me extra for each video footage of my sessions I send his way. Word has it he really,  _ truly  _ enjoys them, if you get my meaning. And even the more moderate members of all the families are perfectly fine with me taking any means necessary to leave no loose ends to any of their ventures. Now, how did  _ you  _ learn about  _ them _ ?”

“Hmm... Information is always available Davies, for one who knows where to look. So, they approve of your methods, huh? Even involving children like you have? Whole families?”

“Of course, Peter. Like I said, no loose ends.” He reaches for one of the instruments on his table. It’s long and pointy, and makes a nasty electrical sound when he moves it around. Shit. “How. Did you learn. About them?”

“Honestly, Davies. You just made us listen to a recording of ourselves talking about how impressive our resident hacker is, and you’re still asking me  _ this _ ? Of course Rita could figure it out.”

“Nureyev, wait! You-”

“It’s ok darling, it’s alright. Can I ask you a question now, Davies?”

“Heh, I’m not sure you understand how these kinds of dealings work, Peter. I’m the one asking the questions here.”

“Yes, yes, I know, but I already gave you an answer, and I’m truly curious about this. If one of your employers is the head of ‘Solar Medical Solutions’, who just last year signed a merger with ‘Fresh Starts’, both huge pharma companies and part of the coalition that kept the Curemother hidden, then… Well, why would you need anyone to steal the Curemother Prime? Didn’t they have access to it whenever they needed?”

“I…” Davies pauses for a second, the smile falling from his face, and it suddenly hits me.

“Oh my god. You don’t know, do you?” Nureyev gives me an encouraging look, and I think I know where he’s going with this. And it’s not like I can get even more tied up, so I continue. “You really don’t know why your bosses tell you to do most of the things you do. You’re just like the Piranha, good at making it seem you know more than you do, but you  _ really don’t. _ ” And Davies has an honestly confused look on his face now. 

“Piranha? Mister Steel, I have no idea who you could possibly be talking about.”

“You know, that violent goon that was working with Pilot Pereyra, but was actually working to get O’Flaherty elected. She was one of yours, right? Looked like a piranha, laughed like a hyena. I killed her in the Martian desert.”

Davies laughs at that, and man the sound of it is grating! 

“A piranha! Yes, yes, I believe that description suits her very well indeed. And you are correct, Mister Steel. She was an Enforcer with the Board, sent to make sure the political and economical deals they have on Hyperion went the way they were meant to. But she was one of many, really, and not the most subtle one. Way below my paygrade but I suppose even a blunt instrument has its uses.”

Gotcha!

“Right, of course. Except, she wasn’t there to make sure O’Flaherty was elected mayor just to protect the Board’s political power, was she? Ramses O’Flaherty was supposed to be placed in the mayor’s office so he could greenlight New Town. And the use of the Theia Souls on a massive level. I’m guessing she didn’t know any of that. Above her paygrade, as you say. But I’m sure  _ you  _ knew about it, right? Just like you know about the reason they need to get the Curemother Prime. No way you’re just another  _ blunt instrument _ like she was, right?”

I don’t even see Davies moving. One moment I’m looking at Nureyev, who seems very pleased with the way the conversation is going, and the next moment there is  _ fire burning my left leg.  _ Everything moves very quickly after that. I realize I’m screaming, stop that, look down to see that goddamn electrical pointy metal thing  _ sticking out of my thigh.  _

I hear Nureyev cry out my name, and Davies is leaning right beside my face shouting, “I am not a blunt instrument! Of course I knew about the New Town Solution! About the Theias! It was all Merrian’s idea, he’s got the scientists from Solar Solution’s R&D department wrapped around his finger. They made all the Theia models, the Soul isn’t even their final design! And I know-”

And then, loud enough to drown out everything else, a voice I know very well. A voice I haven’t heard in more than two years, calls out.

“Theeeere you have it, ladies and gentlefolk! Right from the monster’s mouth! The answer to the mystery of New Town, a confession of the most heinous crimes to take place since the war ended, and you have seen it all,  _ live _ , all thanks to the Kanagawa Broadcasting Network! Bear in mind, this broadcast will be repeated and streamed all over the galaxy! Isn’t that great, folks?”

What the… I look at the guards still standing at the door, and they both have taken their helmets off. One of them has a camera in place of a face. The other one, a monitor. And on that monitor, the smiling slightly deranged face of - 

“Cecil?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> interesting notes:
> 
> 1.- originally I had an entirely different chapter 5 written down, it was Nureyev's pov. BUT those last few lines hit a whole lot better from Juno's pov so I had to drop a lot of what I had already done.  
> 2.- THIS SCENE is the first one I had in mind when I set out to write this fic. It only took me 4 other chapters to get her, that's.... normal, right? XDD (and btw the nextchapter is the second scene I had all thought out before I even started writting.)


	6. Out of the Frying Pan...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For once in Nureyev's life, things seem to be going according to plan. That is, until they're not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man this took me forever!! I really wanted to finish it sooner, but real life and work got in the way, and this chapter is also kind of a doozy. 
> 
> Fair warning, this is where we earn the "canon typical violence" tag, so just a reminder: the chair that took out all of your blood, the martian brain tumor that exploded someone's eye out, actual torture, fighting with knives and blasters and serious injuries are *all* canon typical. (also exploding kitties, but I can assure you no house pets have been harmed in the making of this chapter)
> 
> Also as usual, I HAVE THE BESTEST BETA EVER AND SHE'S A DOLL!! (So thanks a zillion to Amdis for looking over this, every mistake is my own.) 
> 
> and HAWKE'S CHEERLEADING IS WHAT GOT ME TO THIS PLACE!!! (So also a zillion thanks to her.)

This wasn’t supposed to happen! I wasn’t going to let Juno get hurt! I cry out his name and reach him at the same time our co-conspirator starts talking back to Davies. It’s a good thing too, because it means that evil little man is distracted trying to figure out where things went wrong so I can help my love without interference. 

“N-Nureyev?” Juno looks at me, his face a mixture of confusion and pain, as I finally turn off the electricity in the dreadful artefact currently penetrating his leg. “Why… why is Cecil Kanagawa laughing at Davies from what should be the face of one of the guards?” 

Having him so close to me, after so many days of constant fear, I honestly can’t help myself. I kiss him, soft and shorter than I’d like, and at the feel of his soft lips it’s as if life has been brought back to my veins. God, how I’ve missed him. I pull back to look at his face, now less pained and more dazed, and I have to smile at how gorgeous he is even in this situation. 

“It’s all part of the plan, my love, I assure you. Now, let me take a look at this leg.”

“Not like I have much of a choice here, Nureyev. I’m still tied up.”

“Oh, of course dear. I’m sorry.” 

I begin the process of liberating Juno from this blasted chair and, once his cuffs are free, I take a knife from my boot and cut off the leg on his pants to take a look at the wound. It’s an angry looking thing, burned and charred, right on top of his lovely thigh, and once again I berate myself for having allowed such harm to come to my beloved goddess. 

All the while we hear Davies and Cecil Kanagawa speaking in the background. I must admit I pay little to no attention to them, distracted as I am with trying to figure out whether it’d be safe to pull this contraption out of Juno’s leg. That is, until a remarkably loud yell from Davies startles us both. 

“You work for us! We own you! You cannot possibly-”.

“Oh ho ho, not at all Mister Davies. Maybe you own my stepmother, at least that’s what I’ve been told. I must admit, even before poor daddy passed away I never really looked at the family’s finances or any of that boring stuff. And after all that happened… I guess I looked away from everything. But, once Junebug’s secretary told me all that  _ Dear Mother  _ has been up to, and why, well… Her family isn’t  _ my _ family. Not anymore. And she took  _ everything  _ that mattered away from me. My father. My sister.  _ My collection of torture devices! _ I hate her! So, if  _ she’s _ working with you,  _ I’m certainly not.” _

I decide it isn’t safe to remove the thing from Juno’s leg so I reach in my pocket for the extra strength plasma cutter I know is there then get to cutting the part of it that is still sticking out. In front of me, I can feel Juno trembling slightly but his voice is steady when he begins to question Kanagawa.

“So Cecil, you just decided to go rogue on the family? Finally got sick of Min calling all the shots?”

“Oh it’s been just  _ awful _ Junebug! She’s got no taste for what makes good streaming, no idea what the people really want to see! None of the best ideas I have had this past year have been  _ approved _ by her, not even “Desert Dune Buggies - Try and outrun the radiation!”, and that one was not only  _ brilliant, _ it was also dirt cheap! No one was gonna make it to the end and claim the crazy prizes anyways!”

“That’s… nevermind. Did you say that you’ve been streaming all of this  _ live?” _

“Yes, all over the galaxy! Well, it probably reached every solar planet by now, reaching the outer rim takes a little longer. Although with all the repeater satellites your Rita co-opted to do this, it’ll go a lot faster than usual.”

Once I’ve finally cut most of the rod out of the way, and tie a bandage around Juno’s leg to try and keep what’s left of it in place, I turn around to take a look at Davies for the first time since Kanagawa started talking. The monitor faced…  _ thing _ is holding him up by the waist, but he doesn’t seem to mind. His arms and head hang limp, his blond hair no longer slicked back but now covering his face… no longer covering a very clear bald spot on top of his head. There’s a lull in the conversation between Juno and Kanagawa, and in the silence I can hear Davies mumbling something...

“...Kill me, they’re going to kill me, this isn’t happening, they’re going to kill me…” Repeated over and over again. 

The thought hits me suddenly that this is the man I used to be frightened of to the point of terror.  _ This man, _ now uselessly hanging from the arms of a genetic experiment, used to be my tormentor and haunted my nightmares for years. That feeling leaves me dizzy and breathless for a second. I struggle to believe it, such is the relief that floods me as I look at him defeated. 

Then I remember that this man also threatened the lives of my lady, my captain, and my entire family. And I still have a job to finish here. I approach him. 

“What is that, Davies? I’m afraid I didn’t quite hear you.” I reach his side and tilt his face up with my finger so I can look at his eyes. They’re wide and scared, as close to unhinged as I have ever seen them, but without any of the enjoyment that usually accompanied his more excited looks. Good. “Who is going to kill you, now? Because I’m afraid there could be a long line of volunteers for the honour.”

He laughs hysterically until I press my fingers harder to his face, and then he seems to focus on me for a moment.

“You don’t know what you’ve done here, thief. We’re  _ all _ going to die. Today, and very soon. No loose ends, remember? No one left behind to be questioned or seek retribution. The Board doesn’t  _ do _ messy, thief. We’re dead.”

I let go of him, wiping my hand on his suit. 

“There’s no taking this back now, Davies. The truth about the Board, the families, and Newtown back in Hyperion, has already been seen by enough people that they will never be able to contain it. It’s over. And we will be going on our way now so no one will actually know who we are. Only you and your employers have been exposed.”

“Wait, what?” Hearing him speak, I turn around to look at Juno, and he’s trying to stand up on his own. Of all the things! 

I rush over to him pleading, “Dearest, please don’t put weight on your leg. You’ll injure it further!”

“It’s ok, I’m fine!” He waves his hand dismissivly but does sit back down thankfully. He still looks confused as he asks, “But how in the galaxy are  _ we  _ not exposed? Our faces and names must be all over that live stream!” 

I smile back at him. 

“Rita made sure of it, my love. Both our faces, voices, and any name spoken other than that of Davies and the members of the Board, have been  _ redacted _ from the stream just as it was being transmitted. According to our dear hacker, it only caused a two second delay, and there’s no way to reverse it as it is embedded into the original recording.”

“Wow, that’s… That’s good. Kinda cool.”

“Cool? It is a  _ tragedy, Junebug _ !” Cecil Kanagawa sounds truly distressed by this. “The public deserves to see this story in every detail! The love, the fear, your brilliant deductions,  _ that kiss!  _ I’ve always told you, you make for good streaming. Give me half a chance, I can make you a star on and off of Mars. I can make everyone fall in love with you two!”

“Yeah, sorry Cecil, but it’s still a firm ‘hell no’ on that offer.” As they talk, I try to look for anything that might be useful as a makeshift crutch but to no avail. “But… if you knew half of this would be redacted, how did Rita ever convince you to go for it?”

“Well, she did say there was a chance you would be killed here, and that was not going to happen without me filming it Juno!” My dear scoffs at that yet Kanagawa continues, “Also… maybe this will make Cass smile again.”

His voice goes strangely soft at that, so I turn around to look at him and witness a very sad and rather… honest look on his face. He goes on.

“She’s been having a really bad time at Hoosegow. She’s either angry or sedated all the time, and when she can talk to me she’s just so pissed at Min... at everyone really. So am I, by the way. And well… Cass always talked about getting the entire galaxy to understand how we’re all different, leading different lives on different planets, but essentially we’re all the same? Maybe, if people like this Board thing lose some power, that can happen. Maybe now she’ll get to make her documentary when she gets out.”

“Oh…” Juno seems to take pause at this and, as I remember the day of our very first encounter, I can clearly see the reason why. Eventually, he answers wistfully.

“… yeah, that would be nice, Cecil.”

But as heartwarming as this is, I believe we have spent enough time in this place already. 

“Mister Kanagawa, I believe one of your… experiments, holds a couple of earpieces for me and Juno. It’s probably time we both get going now.”

“They’re not experiments, they are successes, not-Agent-Glass!” He goes on talking as the cameraman with the actual camera walks over to us taking a couple small devices from his pocket. “Completely autonomous long distance camera and monitor. They follow my every command as long as there’s still a comm line open between us, and they are programed to complete any final tasks given and then return to my laboratory if the connection is ever disrupted. One of my greatest achievements if I do say so myself. And I do!”

We put the earpieces on and immediately Rita’s voice is shouting at us.

_ “Oh my gosh Mistah Steel, are you ok?! I thought I was gonna have a heart attack, that guy could’a killed you, and I mean it all looked really cool before you were hurt, and I’m real happy both you and Mistah Nureyev seem to think I’m good at what I do, because I am, but then he hurt you with that thing and you were screaming and-” _

“Rita, hey Rita, slow down. I’m ok, yeah? Nothing Vespa can’t fix, I promise. Now how do we get out of here without running into any guards? Are you gonna be leading us around this maze of a place?”

_ “Sure I am Mistah Steel, but there’s no guards to be concerned about. See, every single one of them got a termination notification early this morning. They’ve all been fired so the only ones who came in today to take over from the night shift are our two camera men. Or I guess, one camera man and one monitor man… are they even men? But anyways, the coast is clear boss!” _

“Rita dear, what about Buddy, is she-” Rita interrupts me before I can finish the question.

_ “Oh Miss Buddy is already with Miss Vespa and Mistah Jet at the Ruby-7 waiting for ya’! I think they’re watching the stream as it happens too, because Miss Vespa keeps saying you need to stop wasting time and get over there.” _

“Is Buddy ok, Rita?” I help Juno stand up again, trying to keep most of his weight off of his left leg, as he’s still questioning her. “And where are you if you’re not with them?”

_ “I’m somewhere else!” _ And she sounds very smug about it.  _ “Also, Miss Vespa keeps telling us she needs to get the Captain to our sick bay to get some proper tests done, but I think the Captain sounds just fine Boss, and she says she wasn’t hurt any and that she’s ok and Miss Vespa is exaggeratin’.” _

“That’s good.”

I look at Juno and he does look better than he did before even if he is leaning heavily on me. I ask, “Are you ready to get going, love?” And he gives me one of those rare, easy smiles. God I love him.

“Sure Nureyev, let’s go home.”

As we turn to leave, he looks back to speak to Kanagawa.

“Hey Cecil, thanks for all your help. And tell Cass... I don’t know. Tell her I hope things get better after this.”

“Will do, Junebug! And remember, if you and your fella ever feel like living a life of fame and glamour...”

“Yeah, yeah. If I ever actually get the itch to die on screen to the sound of roaring applause, I’ll come to you.”

“Oh Junebug, promise?! I swear I’ll make it unforgettable!”

I spare a last look at Davies, still motionless in the arms of the monitor man, and then we finally leave this room.

\--------------------------------------

It’s really slow going navigating this place with Juno’s leg injured as it is, but we have enough time to reach the others. Rita won’t alert the local authorities of our location until we’re well on our way, and there are no more actual guards guarding this place. And as I help my love move along, half holding him half carrying him across the narrow maze-like corridors, I am once again flooded by an immense sense of relief. Juno is alive, and mostly well, and I have him in my arms. I am optimistic about our chances here, maybe for the first time since I woke up to an empty bed almost four days ago. 

I really should’ve known better. 

We’re almost halfway through when Rita cuts herself off mid direction.

_ “Oh no!! No nononono this isn’t good, oh dear!” _

“Rita?” I ask as Juno tries to catch his breath against a wall. “What could possibly be the matter now? We’re almost out!”

_ “Oh! Mistah Nureyev, Mistah Steel, there’s an entire crew of heavily armed people coming in through the main entrance! At least twenty people according to the motion sensors. Let me hook up the video feed for that corridor… Oh no…” _

“What, Rita? Who is it? You said no guards-”

_ “It’s not the guards, Boss. I think… I think they look like Dark Matters agents.” _

My blood runs cold. This wasn’t supposed to happen, not so fast. Now Davies’ panic makes a lot more sense. 

“Rita, can we make it to the Ruby in time to get away undetected by Dark Matters?”

_ “Hmmm… I don’t think so Mistah Nureyev, can you move any faster than you’ve been moving ‘till now? Because if not…” _

I look at Juno, breathing heavily, still using the wall to keep himself upright and his injured leg shaking slightly. I really should’ve brought more medical supplies with me, a foolish underprepared old man is what I am. I’m about to inform Rita that it will be extremely difficult to move any faster at all when Jet’s voice cuts through our earpieces. 

_ “I am already on the way to retrieve you. I can carry Juno easily and quickly, and Rita informs me I will be with you in under thirty seconds.”  _

_ “Yeah Mistah Jet but the DM agents will be right on you in under  _ forty  _ seconds! I said you’d be cutting it real close, and there’s ten agents headin’ your way right now!” _

Alright, so we have a small window of time. My mind starts racing through every possible solution as Juno and I once again start walking toward our freedom. We turn a corner, and this corridor segment is shorter than most, narrow, and with an automatic door on the far side that can be easily jammed. This will do. 

“Jet, where are you now?”

_ “He’s on his way, Nureyev.” _ -suddenly Vespa’s voice is coming loudly from our earpieces too.  _ “And you three better come back very quickly, Bud and I are waiting but the Ruby is beeping very loudly. It wants to get moving right now, and I am not letting Buddy get captured again just because Steel can't keep up the pace!” _

“Hey! I’m actually injured here! You’re our doctor Vespa, shouldn’t you care a little more that my leg feels like it’s gonna come off at any moment?”

_ “If you’re feeling pain then it’s still attached, Steel. Now get a move on!” _

We keep limping on until we reach the door, and then we hear Jet again over the comms.

_ “Rita, where do I turn now?” _

_ “Go right, Mistah Jet.”  _ A second passes before,  _ “No, no, Mistah Jet. Your other right!” _

_ “Rita, my other right would be my left!” _

I open the door, and push Juno through just as Jet comes rushing down the hall on the other side of it. And by my calculations we’re out of time.

I close the door and jam it.

“Nureyev!” There’s a strange echo from hearing Juno through the door and in our comms. The fact that he’s upset comes through crystal clear either way.

“Jet, take Juno and go!” I shout as I turn around and bring out a couple of my favorite knives. They’re sharp and just the right length to be used in limited spaces. Much easier to use under these conditions than those blasters Dark Matters uses. “I’ll take care of them and join you as soon as I can. Just get Juno to Vespa and the Ruby!”

_ “Nureyev, you can’t do this! Hey, big guy, put me down! Stop moving, we can’t just leave him-”. _

There’s no more echo as they’ve clearly moved away from the closed door and Juno’s voice comes only through my earpiece now. Still, I can hear him huff as Jet cuts him off.

_ “Peter Nureyev, I am trusting you to keep your word and come back to us in time to make our escape. Our crew is not so large that we can afford to lose one of our members, especially now that we actually know who it is we would be losing. We’ll need your skill and views in the times to come, so you must return to us alive.” _

Listening to Jet Sikuliaq talk that way about me is… more than what I’d have time to process for myself right at this moment. I can already hear the heavy footsteps coming from around the corner in front of me. I step away from the door and move to the middle of this section of the corridor, taking a ready stance, my ears tuned to follow the approach of the agents coming my way. I do not pay attention to Juno’s muffled cries.  _ “Jet, goddammit, put me down! We have to go back, I’m not just leaving him there alone, Jet!”  _ Nor do I spare a thought for the aching beat of my heart at the distress I hear in Juno’s voice. 

I have a couple more seconds. I allow myself a deep breath, mentally promise both Juno and Jet that I intend to do as I promised and come out of this. The first of the agents comes running around the corner.

I begin.

The first two agents go down easily, just a couple quick cuts to their throats and they’re down. The third one trips over the bodies of the first two, clumsy. I end him with a stab through his back placed just right to make it quick. By the fourth agent, they begin to realize the problem with the narrowness of this space, so they come more slowly and one at the time. No matter, it isn’t hard to move fast enough to keep dodging their blaster hits, and agents number four, five and six go down in less than a minute.

Apparently, a minute is all it takes for a group of Dark Matter agents to find their collective wits. As I turn back to look at them again, agent number seven is being used as a human shield as agents eight and nine try out their marksmanship on me. I go low, quickly, and try to go under the agent in front of me to get to the ones doing the actual shooting. But I am not quick enough, and one blaster shot grazes my left side and hits my arm. 

It burns, badly, but that is no excuse for me dropping one of my knives as I do. Still, even with one arm now useless, I manage to cut both agents eight and nine through their femoral arteries, deep enough for them to fall down as their lives bleed away. Once they’re down, slicing their throats is an easy job, done within seconds. 

I stand up, not minding the way my arm and chest are screaming at me with pain right now, and face agent number ten. His face goes pale at the gruesome scene before him, and he’s the only one to make the clever choice and step away. I watch him run and disappear around the corner, and allow myself just two seconds to catch my breath. 

This proves to be a mistake.

Agent number seven, evidently having picked up the knife I so foolishly had dropped, stabs me in the back right beneath my right shoulder blade. I stumble forwards, catching myself on the wall as I turn around. The movement effectively dislodges the knife from my back so the agent’s still wielding it, and I can feel warmth running down my back. 

My right arm is still functional, and I lift it, with my knife pointing at the last remaining threat to my family. Just as she does the same, pointing  _ my knife _ at me. I try to breathe deep. It hurts. I do it anyway. 

“You should run away now. Your smarter colleague already did. Go back to where you came from, and I will allow you to live.”

She smiles and shakes her head.

“He wasn’t smart, none of my ‘colleagues’ were smart. He’s just a coward. And  _ I _ am about to earn myself a promotion, you radical scum.”

I step away from the wall, and a dizzy spell almost has me fall over. I have to end this, now.

“Do you even know how to use that blade, little one? It takes a different kind of skill than just pulling a trigger and worrying about the paperwork.”

Her smile only wavers a little, as she begins to walk towards me. 

“You’re completely covered in blood. You really think you should be making threats?”

“You’re the one threatening everything I truly care about right now. And most of this blood? You know it isn’t mine. Walk. Away.”

In the end we both lunge forward at the same time. My knife ends up in her windpipe; hers goes into my gut, right beneath my ribs on my right side. We both collapse at the same time, but at least I’m still capable of breathing. For now anyway.

I push her away from me, and the blade slides out as she falls to my side. I try to put pressure on the wound, try to pull myself together, to get out of here. It is done. I took them out. I did it!

But there’s a rushing sound in my ears, like waves on the sea crashing above me, and the pain from my injuries is not so bad anymore. I’m also not sure exactly where my legs and arms are right now in relation to my body. I try to move, but I am not even sure I succeed at it. 

This hallway is awfully white…

Through the sound of waves, suddenly, a voice cuts through to me. It takes me a moment to understand what the words actually are, but I know who it is speaking. 

Juno. 

“ _ Nureyev, get up! You have to get up! Listen to me, the other agents already got to Davies, we think. Cecil had to pull his camerathings away. Rita is starting to lose access to all the video feeds so we don’t know if they’re getting close to you or not. You have to get up now! C’mon babe, just get up, please!” _

He sounds on the verge of tears. That isn’t right, my goddess should never be upset or sad, not because of me. I try to tell him that, but even my tongue feels heavy. 

_ “Sikuliaq, get in here already, we have to go!” _ Vespa’s voice, I think. 

_ “Captain Buddy, if the motion sensors are still right, I think the rest of the agents are coming your way right now!” _ Rita’s voice. I like Rita.  _ “Oh, this isn’t good” _

_ “Get up, Nureyev. Please!”  _

_ “Juno, darling. Look at him. He’s not going to move on his own so we’ll have to figure something else out. But right now we have to move. Jet, please.” _

_ “No! No no no, we can’t just leave him, please he’s just-” _

I try to talk to him once again. I think this time some words actually come out of me. At least, I hope so.

“Juno, my love… I’m so… I’m so sorry. I really… I really hoped we would have more time together. I wanted to-”

_ “No, Nureyev, don’t talk like that! Don’t… don’t say goodbye to me. Not like this.” _

“I’m sorry… I wanted to… I really meant to go back… to you… love…”

Everything feels so far away. Even the stark whiteness of these walls seems to soften, as I float. From a distance, I think I hear more talking, some shouting. Maybe I hear Rita saying she has an idea. Maybe it’s Vespa talking about blood loss. Jet talking about the Ruby-7’s speed. 

I think I hear the Captain say my actual name. That can’t be right. Maybe I’m dreaming.

I can hear Juno crying. This isn’t a very nice dream. 

The sea takes me away, and I float.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I REGRET NOTHING!!! 
> 
> (runs away)


	7. Soup is Good Medicine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After surviving a really close call, Nureyev slowly realizes that he has gained much more than just his freedom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY for taking so long with this last chapter. I swear I didn't mean to leave that last chapter's ending hanging for so long. Real life just got really hectic, and I can't even believe it's almost February, like was January even a real month? I dunno, seems fake.
> 
> Anyways, as usual, a million thanks both to Hawke for cheering me on (go read her new [fic Penumbra/TMA AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28834161/chapters/70723632), it's awesome!) and a zillion thanks to Amdis for being the bestest beta ever. 
> 
> CONTENT WARNING - there is some mention of feeling woozy and/or high because of pain medication. It is vague, doctor approved, and no one is actually impaired by any medicine, but I think it could be an issue worth warning about.

Waking up was a strange ordeal, and it happened in waves. I recalled coldness, hurried movement and harried voices. Suddenly I was warm. Then I felt pain again, sharp and all encompassing, only for it to fade away almost immediately. And a different kind of tidal wave taking me under once again.

The next time I wake up, it is somewhere soft, warm and dark. I take a deep breath, only to realize I am surprisingly able to do so without much discomfort. With my eyes still closed, I try to remember why this should come as a surprise. 

Ah yes, I do believe the last thing I remember was lying in a puddle of my own blood awaiting certain death. I try moving each of my limbs in turn, and find all four of them seem to be intact and functional. I try to swallow, and my throat does feel a tad dry. A minor inconvenience all things considered. I believe I have been awake for the better part of five minutes now, no sound or light has interrupted my thoughts. This seems to feel like a safe place for me to be. 

I open my eyes. The lights are out, and someone has taken out my contacts so the world is a blur, yet the safety glow around the walls makes it perfectly clear, I am on the medical bay of the Carte Blanche. But, we were a day away from the ship when I entered Davies’ compound to seek out Juno. Just how long have I been unconscious? 

I look around me and there’s only one other person in the room with me: Juno. He’s sitting on Vespa’s chair, both legs stretched in front of him with his feet resting on the far end of my bed. And he looks to be sleeping soundly, if the sounds coming from him are any indication. My love always does snore when he goes to bed exhausted… or maybe it’s just the position he’s in. As he fell asleep sitting up, his head is falling forwards causing his neck to bend more than must be comfortable. 

Maybe I should try and wake him up? Just as I’m pondering whether interrupting Juno’s rest will be worth it to prevent the crick in his neck he’s sure to have when he wakes up if he stays in this position much longer, he heaves a deep sigh and shifts in his seat. This brings his head back to a more comfortable position, and his face points directly toward me. 

He looks drawn and tired, heavy bags under his eyes, with a pallor to his skin I am not used to seeing and hope never to see again. But he also looks peaceful, like whatever he is dreaming right now is enough to bring him comfort. 

He looks utterly beautiful. 

I decide I will let him catch his rest, and turn to my side so I can face him more directly. I can see my glasses sitting on the table next to the bed, and I’m thankful for whoever thought to place them there as I put them on. I think I know who it was. 

I’m not sure for how long I stay, silent and motionless, just basking in the presence of my goddess. His eyes move behind closed eyelids, and then go still once more. His nose scrunches occasionally, but his brow is relaxed and his breath is deep and even. Every breath he takes is a priceless reminder that he’s still alive. He’s once more with me, safe and amongst his family. The past four days have been such a nightmare. Knowing him to be at the mercy of a sociopath. Believing him to be gone for good. Dreading that I would reach him eventually only to have a front row seat to his death at Davies’ hand. It was more than I could bear. 

So I watch him sleep. Lord knows for how long. And eventually, with a sudden start and a groan, he wakes up. 

“Oh dammit!” - the first words out of his mouth, and I can’t help but smile - “I shouldn’t have fallen asleep in this-” he looks up right then, his hand half way to his neck, and whatever he was about to say dies on his lips as he looks back at me. His face does a complicated show of several emotions in quick succession; a sleepy happy smile followed by an anxious frown, wet eyes and a guilty turn of his face to the side; that last one I fail to understand right now, as familiar as I am with both the sentiment and the expression. But I do not want him to look away from me, not right now. 

“Hello, Juno.”

“Hey… are you… how are you feeling? Do you need anything?”

“I’m feeling quite well Juno, even more so now that I can hear your voice. Are  _ you  _ alright?”

“ _ Me _ ? Nureyev, I'm not the one that… nevermind.” The anxious scowl is back in full force, as his feet leave my bed and he leans forward, and I understand he needs to do something more than just talk right now. “Are you sure you don’t need anything? Water, some pain medicine? I can call Vespa, she said-” 

“No need to wake up the good doctor, love. I’m sure I gave her more than enough trouble already. But some water would be nice?”

“Yeah, alright, I’ll get you some water.” He stands up, evidently to fetch me a glass, and he keeps talking. “You really did give Vespa quite a workout, you know? Jet and her were operating on you for almost five hours.” I can’t help but notice, particularly when he turns around again, that he- “Apparently one of your lungs was out of commission, and you’d lost about five times as much blood as would be advisable or whatever.” 

“Juno, you’re…”

“Not that losing blood is ever advisable, no matter the amount. Just so you know-”

“Love, your leg!”

“What about it?” At least the anxious scowl has morphed into an annoyed scowl, which may be considered an improvement. Still, I can’t believe I’d forgotten... “Drink your water.”

“Juno, you’re limping. Are you still in pain? Did Vespa not look at your leg afterwards?”

“I’m fine! My leg is  _ fine _ , Vespa fixed it in less than thirty minutes. It’s just a little stiff, I’ll be fine.” He takes a couple shaky breaths and it seems he has more to say, so I give him the time while I sit up and take a sip of water. Then he keeps going, “I’m not the one that just fucking died two times yesterday, Nureyev.”

“What? Dear-”

“No, don’t  _ dear _ me!” He’s almost shouting now, looking more scared than anything. “Vespa had to get you stable enough to endure surgery, and it took her the better part of a day. She started to fix you up in the Ruby, but you died once when we were moving you to the ship you all took to reach Ganimede faster. Then she brought you back, but you died again before we even reached the Carte Blanche! I… it took her a long time to get your heartbeat back that second time.” His voice had started out loud, but now he sounds so very small. “It felt like a  _ really _ long time…”

“Juno, I…” I’m not sure what to say to this.  _ I know what that feels like _ . Then his voice finally breaks down with one last line...

“I thought I’d lost you…”

And just like that, I’m moving. My body feels stiff and I get dizzy just standing up but I don’t care. I move to put my arms around my love, just as he begins to cry in earnest. 

“Juno, dear, I’m right here. I’m here. I’m sorry.”

He’s crying into my chest and clinging to my shirt like it was a lifeline. All I can do is hold on to him even tighter until his sobbing eventually slows. Finally, god knows after how much time has passed, he looks up at me. “Shit, Nureyev. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled… and you shouldn’t be standing up, shit! You’ll pull some stitches or something!” 

“It’s alright dear. Come, sit next to me, yes?”

He nods and, as we both go to sit back down on the bed, I can feel a soreness in my chest for the first time since I woke up. Still nothing major, I tell myself, as I silently offer what’s left of my water to Juno. He takes it sheepishly, downing it in one gulp. Even if he’s still sniffling a lot, he does look more calm, and he gives me a watery smile afterwards. 

“I’m really sorry to have given you such cause for worry, Juno.”

“No Nureyev, don’t… you bought us enough time to get out of there without Dark Matters even looking at us. Probably saved us from some sort of undisclosed high security prison or something worse. And you were really impressive over there! Took out ten agents singlehandedly.”

“Only nine agents, love. One of them ran away. And anyway,” I say as I try rolling my left arm to soothe my sore back and chest, to no avail. “It clearly wasn’t impressive enough if I needed to be rescued afterwards.”

“Yeah, I don’t think anyone could be fast enough to actually dodge a blaster shot at that close a range, Nureyev. Not even you. Still, you almost did! Vespa said the blaster only grazed your side, and that’s why you got the burns but didn’t actually… you know…”

“Burns?” I check my skin beneath this shirt and it seems to be unscathed, besides the stab wound in my right side. “I don’t see any.”

“Internal burns, according to Vespa. Something about your lung nearly being cooked all the way through. She’s treating it somehow but it seems that’s the thing that’s gonna take the longest to heal.” 

“ _ Oh _ .” Something about Juno being so well informed about my injuries and treatment makes me feel… safe. It’s a warm feeling, made warmer still by the fact that I no longer need to push it away or try to brace myself for the day it’s taken away. It suddenly hits me, there is no proverbial blade hanging over me anymore. I won’t endanger Juno by staying next to him. 

It also suddenly becomes clear to me… I don’t need to lie to our crew anymore. I’ve told the truth to everyone, except Buddy I suppose… but didn’t I hear her call my real name before I fainted earlier? This realization leaves me dizzy. Or maybe it’s the medications. 

Vespa comes into the room soon after, complaining about how our sitting up and moving around would somehow mess up all of her hard work. But she doesn’t make Juno go back to his own bed. Instead, she checks both our injuries and then calls Buddy to let her know I’ve awoken.

Suddenly I’m surrounded by, well, everyone.

Rita rushes in, a blur of bright soft clothes in quick motion, and before I can react I find myself enveloped in a vanilla scented hug. Vespa tells her to  _ take it easy _ , but my darling Juno just shrugs and gives me a look I know to mean I might as well get used to this. Hugging back a sniffling affectionate Rita, it doesn’t feel like any sort of burden at all.

In walks Buddy next. She takes one quick look at the scene in front of her.  _ Rita slowly disentangling herself from me. Vespa wearing a scowl on her face that’s nowhere near the intensity I know she can muster. And Juno, trying his best to hide the biggest grin on his face _ . And then Buddy is smiling herself as she walks right up to me, holding out her hand, and says:

“Peter Nureyev, welcome to our family dear.” 

I take her hand, open my mouth but I’m not sure how I could possibly respond to a statement such as this. I am saved from figuring it out by Jet, who chooses this exact moment to come in. He’s holding an incredibly large tray with several water bottles and six huge bowls of Jovian Noodle Soup.

And just like that, all six of us are eating, talking,  _ laughing. _ After the past four days it feels like taking a deep breath after a near drowning. 

Buddy expresses some regret at not having been able to see my repartee with Davies in full. “I could only see the recorded stream, dear, but even with the selective censoring our Rita applied to it, I could still see your performance must’ve been impeccable. The look on that slimy rat’s face was priceless!”

Vespa has some less than impressed comments about my performance in that narrow corridor. “I mean, how many more knives were you holding, ‘reyev? Just do some throws and hit the blasters out of their hands before they can hit  _ you _ ! You don’t need all that jumping and dodging if your opponents have all lost their blasters. And maybe a couple of thumbs too!”

But Rita has a different opinion. “Well, I think it was  _ cool _ , Miss Vespa! Not the blood of course, or when he was hurt, but he moved real fast. Almost looked like a ballet dancer, and he also looked scary enough to make one of them run away! And anyway, he faced ten agents armed with blasters, all by himself, with just a couple of knives? That’s  _ James Baud  _ level of cool!” 

I forget to ask just who James Baud is, as Rita goes on to explain how she could see everything quite clearly through the Camera Man’s eye once she hacked into it, and used it to go and pick me out of that place. Apparently she had to turn off some of it’s failsafes, as it was not built to move quite as fast as she needed it to. And her hacking it first was apparently faster than the thing would’ve been getting to me using it’s regular speed, which I tell her is quite impressive. 

Jet agrees with my assessment, while also commenting that Cecil Kanagawa seemed very interested in how Rita was able to use his invention so easily. Seems we may be hearing from the Martian stream genius once the police are done interrogating him. No one seems too concerned about it. 

“It seems he somehow got the HCPD to agree to having cameras present in every one of his debriefings, and in Min Kangawa’s interrogations too,”Jet informs us. “There has been some talk of an entire season of streams dealing with members of The Board, New Town and everything else they can think of in connection to this. I have been told there is quite an audience for it.”

Juno seems content just to listen to us all. He laughs and eats his soup, all the while keeping his hand holding mine. I feel… good. Even if I grow steadily both dizzier and more sore as we finish our meal. Eventually my eyes start drooping, and our doctor declares it is time for me to get some more rest. 

“He’s got to spend at least one more night here in the sickbay, Steel. You’re all cleared to go, so you should go get some sleep too. Scoot!”

“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere Vespa. You scoot!”

Remarkably, the doctor does not debate this. I think I even catch a rare smile on her face, though that may just be because Juno takes my glasses off so I can lie back down. I receive a new dose of pain medicine to help me through the night. 

Everyone else makes their goodbyes, and as I relax in bed Juno strips down to his underwear then lies down next to me. The bed is not built for two people but he doesn’t seem to mind, and I certainly don’t either. I fall asleep feeling warmer and more at ease than I have since I can remember. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wake up an indeterminate amount of time later. As I open my eyes, the first thing I see is Juno looking back at me. He gives me a wistful smile. 

“Hey.”

“Hello, love.”

“I didn’t mean to wake you. You should go back to sleep.”

But I do not feel tired. I mean to tell him I feel good. I mean to say that I love him. That Jet’s soup, Buddy’s acceptance, Vespa’s care and Rita’s cheer have all made their way into my heart, and made me feel better. Safer. I mean to tell him that he’s inside my heart. And now that I am free, all I want is to try and give him back everything he has given to me. And more. That is all I mean to say.

What comes out of my mouth, however, is -

“Will you marry me?”

Juno looks at me for a second, shock clear on his face, and then he starts giggling into the pillow. 

“Juno? Dear, I know that was abrupt, and this isn't how I was planning on asking, but-”

“Babe, babe, I’m sorry,” He’s struggling to stop giggling, but he still looks utterly amused. Good lord, how can he look so beautiful even when he’s making fun of me? “It’s just… How much pain medicine did Vespa give you before we fell asleep? You’re high right now, aren’t you?”

“... I may be a little lightheaded right now, yes. But I stand by my question, dear.”

“Nureyev, maybe you should sleep on it, yeah?”

“Juno, my love, I have been sleeping on it for months now. I mean this. The only reason I haven’t asked before is… well, I was never sure how much of a life I had ahead of me. My future didn’t feel my own, so I hesitated in asking you to join me in it. But now? Well… Now we have our entire lives ahead of us. And I want nothing more than to share mine with you. If you’ll have me?”

Juno’s expression had sobered somewhere in the middle of that rambling speech, and I admit I may still be a little under the influence of something. But when I look at him I know, I feel more like myself than I ever have when we’re apart. This isn’t the proposal I had planned but I want this. 

Juno is staring at me, with an open look of cautious wonder in his eye. Still no answer, but I find I am not worried. We’ll be together, married or not. I graze his cheek with my hand, and he takes a deep shuddering breath, like he had been holding his breath all this time. 

“You don’t need to answer right now, my love. It’s alright if-” 

I’m interrupted by soft warm lips touching mine, a gentle kiss as Juno puts his arms around me and holds on. He’s smiling as he pulls back and softly asks me, “Are you sure?”

“I have a ring in my room. I can go get it if that would help.”

“You have a ring? Since when?”

“Oh, about six months now? I bought it on that touristy moon we went to after the Saturnian Bank heist.”

“Six months?! Holy crap, Nureyev…”

“So to answer your question: yes Juno, I am sure. I have been for a while now.”

“Alright… alright. But no more close calls like this one, I don’t think my heart could take it. And no more hiding real problems! We work together, ok?”

“... Juno. Is that a yes?”

Somehow, Juno manages a beaming smile and tear filled eye at the same time. My chest suddenly feels like it’s two sizes too small for my heart. Is this actually happening?

“Yes, Nureyev, I’ll marry you!” 

I kiss him again; I can’t not kiss him. Again and again. My hands on his back, his hand behind my neck. After everything we’ve just been through this moment is perfect. 

Eventually we have to come up for air. As I dry my eyes and he does the same, he gives me a coyish smile and tells me, “Although, I may need to actually see this ring you… wait, did you say you actually bought me a ring? As in, paid for it?”

“Well… the money did come from my share of the profits on that heist, so the thieving spirit is still intact… But yes, I did pay for it dear. In full. I don’t know, it felt… right.”

He laughs at that, happy and whole and here, and it is a sound I hope to hear every single day for the rest of my natural life. Long may it be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I have finished my first multichapter fic ever!! *throws confetti*   
> I have a posible epilogue planned for this, but I also was attacked by several plot bunnies, so we'll see. You're definetly getting more fics from me eventually! (no more first person though, turns out it is really hard to write)
> 
> Also, "James Baud" is not mine, it is a reference to a very geeky webcomic I *will* get caught up with at some point. So all signs point to Rita being a fan of "General Protection Fault" the webcomic, or maybe the stream series they make out of it in the future. I'm sure they clone Sean Connery to play Sean Connery.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy, please leave kudos if you did, and know that if you leave me a comment I will literally scream and then figuratively fly to wherever you are to hug you and give you a thanku-chocolate bar. 
> 
> Also if you see something I should've tagged and didn't, please let me know and I'll add it?


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